Rack Load Signage Singapore: What SS EN 15635 Requires

Rack load signage in Singapore costs very little and prevents the most expensive failure a warehouse can have, a collapsed overloaded bay. SS EN 15635 requires every rack to display its safe working loads, yet faded and missing notices turn up on inspection after inspection. This blog walks you through what the notice must show, where it goes and when it expires, starting with the rack safety accessories range.

What is a rack load notice and what does SS EN 15635 require?

A rack load notice is a displayed sign stating the maximum safe loads a rack run can carry. SS EN 15635 requires the operator to display one so the rack is never loaded beyond its design. The notice is the link between the structural calculation done under SS EN 15512 and the person on the floor placing the pallet.

Displaying it is a duty. The rack was designed to carry a specific set of loads, and without a notice the people loading it are guessing at limits an engineer already worked out. SEMA guidance, echoing the HSE’s HSG76 warehousing code, states that racking should carry “a clear unambiguous notice securely fixed to it, stating the maximum load”.

The notice answers to one configuration. It is valid for the exact beam layout the rack was rated with, which is why it carries the installation or reconfiguration date. The load capacity behind the figures comes from that layout as much as from the steel.

Display a current notice on every rack run. Without one, nobody on your floor can demonstrate the rack was loaded inside its design, and an incident investigation starts with that sign.

What information must a rack load notice show?

Four figures and one date: the safe working load per beam level, the pallet configuration each level is rated for, the maximum bay load, and the administrative detail of who supplied and last rated the rack. Each figure is a separate limit, and all of them have to hold at once.

The beam level load states what one pair of beams carries, and it is expressed as a pallet configuration. A level rated for two 1,000kg pallets carries a different arrangement from one rated for three 666kg pallets, even though both come to about two tonnes. Load three pallets wide onto a beam sized for two and the rack is overloaded at the same total weight. So the notice states the configuration alongside the figure. The specs on a racking quotation are where those rated figures originate.

The bay load is the figure most operators miss, and it governs the whole bay. It states the maximum weight of all pallets in the bay added together, and it usually sits below the sum of the individual beam levels. The administrative block names the supplier and carries the date, so a query about the rack traces back to the design.

Show all four figures on every notice. A sign carrying the beam load alone hides the limit that fails first.

Why is the bay load less than the sum of the beam loads?

Because the uprights and baseplate carry the whole bay, and their limit arrives before every beam is loaded to its own maximum. A rack with four beam levels each rated at 2,000kg does not carry 8,000kg per bay. SEMA’s worked example puts the safe bay load at 5,000kg, not 8,000kg on exactly that configuration.

The reason is structural. Each beam level has its own limit. The frame holding all the levels has a separate and lower one, because the uprights carry the accumulated weight down to the floor. Load every beam to its rated maximum and the frame goes over, even though no single beam does. Both limits apply at the same time.

This is the trap that collapses racks that never looked overloaded. A team loading each level to its beam rating believes it is compliant while the bay total quietly passes the frame limit. The bay load figure exists to stop that arithmetic.

Load to the bay figure. A bay rated at 5,000kg holds 5,000kg however many levels it has, and the beam ratings only cap how that total gets split between them.

Where should the load notice be placed?

At the end of each rack run, fixed at a readable height around 2m from the floor, on corrosion resistant material that survives the warehouse environment. One notice covers one run, positioned where it gets read on approach, before the loading starts.

Placement decides whether the notice is used at all. A sign at the end of the run in the line of sight of an approaching forklift gets read. One tucked behind an upright or set at ankle height does not, and an unread notice protects nobody. The standard displayed format is an A3 landscape sign fixed prominently at the aisle end.

One run, one notice, because each run can be rated differently. Few warehouses run a single rack specification throughout, so a run of heavy duty racking and a run of standard selective carry different figures and need their own signs. Put up one generic sign for the whole building and you have invited the wrong limit onto the wrong rack.

Fix a legible notice at every run end and keep it clean. The wider WSH duties put that legibility on the occupier.

What happens to the notice when you reconfigure the racking?

The rating changes and the old notice turns dangerous, because beam position is one of the biggest factors in a rack’s capacity. Moving a beam level up, adding a level, or raising the first beam off the floor changes the upright’s effective length and with it the load the frame can carry.

The physics is unforgiving. The height of the first beam above the floor and the spacing between beams are built into the capacity calculation, so a rack reconfigured to add a level or lift a beam is no longer the rack the notice describes. SEMA states that changing these dimensions can have a devastating effect on carrying capacity. How beam position affects capacity is set out in the frame guidance.

A reconfigured rack needs a fresh assessment and a new notice before it is reloaded. The sign has to describe the rack as it stands today, so any beam change triggers a recalculation by a competent person and a replacement notice. A rack still running its original notice after a beam move is displaying a limit that expired the day the beam moved.

Reissue the notice every time a beam moves. Moving the steel and leaving the old sign up is how a rack ends up loaded to a figure it can no longer hold.

Is rack load signage legally required in Singapore?

It is required through the duty of care. The Workplace Safety and Health Act makes the occupier responsible for a safe rack, and SS EN 15635 sets the display of load notices as the means of keeping it within its design. The MOM circular on the safe use of storage racks treats correct loading as part of that duty.

Overloading is one of the three causes behind most racking incidents, alongside poor installation and a skipped inspection, and it is the one the notice directly controls. Overloaded racks fail suddenly. The notice is the control that keeps the floor inside the limit an engineer set.

When an overloaded rack fails, the question put to the occupier is whether the safe loads were displayed and enforced, and a missing or faded notice reads as a required control that was allowed to lapse. The supplier provides the rated figures. Keeping the sign current and legible belongs to the occupier.

So treat the load notice as mandatory on every run. Very little else in the warehouse costs this little and carries this much of the loading regime.

What to check on your own notices

Rack load signage turns a calculation into a limit the floor can follow. The notice shows the beam load, the pallet configuration and the bay load, and the bay figure governs, because it sits below the beam loads added up. It is valid only for the beam layout it was written for, so every reconfiguration needs a fresh sign. In Singapore the duty of care makes displaying it the occupier’s job.

Send us your rack runs and their beam layouts, and we will confirm the safe loads and issue a notice for each run. Request a load notice review.

Frequently asked questions

Does every rack run need its own load notice?

Yes. Each run can be rated to a different load depending on its beams, uprights and configuration, so one generic notice for the warehouse is non compliant and dangerous. SS EN 15635 requires the displayed loads to match the run they are fixed to, which is why a heavy duty run and a selective run carry separate notices.

Who provides the rack load notice?

The supplier or installer provides the rated figures and the initial notice as part of the installation, drawn from the SS EN 15512 design. The occupier then owns the duty to keep it displayed, legible and current, and to reissue it after any reconfiguration. That ongoing duty does not transfer back to the supplier.

What size and material should a load notice be?

The standard format is an A3 landscape sign in corrosion resistant material, fixed prominently at the end of each run around 2m from the floor. It has to survive the warehouse environment and stay legible for years, because a faded notice is treated as a missing one on an SS EN 15635 inspection.

How do I find out my racking’s safe working load?

From the original design documentation supplied under SS EN 15512, or from a competent person who can assess and rate the rack if the paperwork is lost. NTL can inspect an existing rack, confirm its safe beam and bay loads, and issue a compliant notice. Never estimate the figure, because an assumed load is how overloading starts.

What happens if a rack load notice is missing or wrong?

The rack is treated as non compliant, and the occupier carries the liability if it is overloaded and fails. On an SS EN 15635 inspection a missing, faded or outdated notice is a recordable finding, and MOM can act on the occupier’s duty of care. The fix is a recalculation and a fresh notice.