Workshop Shelving Singapore: Tools, Oils, Tyres, Parts

Workshop shelving carries the widest weight range in storage: a 200 litre oil drum at 180kg on one bay, a tray of hand tools on the next. A leak from it has to be contained to 110 percent of its volume under SS 532:2024. This blog walks you through storing tools, oils, tyres and bulky parts safely, starting with the storage and racking systems that hold them.

What is workshop and spare parts shelving, and what makes it different?

Workshop shelving holds tools, spares, fluids and bulky components in one run, sized and zoned so heavy and light stock sit together safely. The range is what sets it apart. One workshop stores everything from a 50g fastener to a 180kg drum, and nothing else you store mixes weights that widely.

That mix is the whole design problem. A records store holds one kind of box and a pallet store holds one kind of pallet, while a workshop holds fluids, castings, tyres and tools at the same time, so you end up zoning by weight and matching each item to its own storage.

Each group brings its own hazard. Heavy stock stored high topples, oils stored without containment run across the floor, and tyres stored near heat degrade, so choosing the right storage system for a workshop really means specifying a set of zones.

Audit what is already standing before you add to it. Most workshop stores grew a bay at a time over ten years, with beams and uprights from three suppliers mixed down one run and not a load notice among them, and a new heavy zone bolted onto that inherits every weakness in it.

The floor is part of the spec here too. Workshop slabs collect coolant, oil and wash water, and an upright foot standing in that for a few years rusts from the base up, so painted or galvanised frames and base plates that sit clear of standing fluid are worth the difference on the quote.

How should you zone a workshop shelf by weight?

Heaviest stock on the bottom levels, frequently picked light stock at waist to shoulder height, and rarely used light stock up top. Zoning by weight keeps the centre of gravity low and the lifting inside the safe range, which makes it the first rule to get right in a workshop.

Heavy low does two jobs at once. A 180kg drum or a heavy casting on a bottom level keeps weight off the top of the frame where it would make the run top heavy, and it puts the lift between knuckle and shoulder instead of overhead, which is why how load is distributed counts for as much as the total.

The middle band is the pick zone. Your team works fastest and safest between waist and shoulder height, so tools and parts pulled dozens of times a day live there, and slow moving light stock goes to the top levels.

Mark each zone with the weight it takes. A painted or printed limit on the end frame for the heavy zone, and a note on what belongs at each height, keeps the zoning intact after the person who planned it moves on.

Leave the bottom level on beams rather than on the floor slab. A gap underneath lets you sweep out swarf and spilled fluid, and it keeps cartons and cardboard off a slab that is usually damp somewhere.

How do you store oils and lubricants safely?

On bunded shelving or a spill pallet that catches a leak, kept low and away from any drain. A full 200 litre drum weighs around 180kg, so oils sit on bottom levels and never on open shelving over a bare floor.

Containment governs oil storage. A bund or spill pallet under the drums has to hold the greater of 110 percent of the largest container or 25 percent of the total volume stored under SS 532:2024, so a bay holding four 200 litre drums needs at least 220 litres of containment underneath it.

Which regulator you answer to depends on the quantity. A workshop holding small volumes below the SCDF Petroleum and Flammable Materials exemption needs no storage licence and still has to keep a spill out of the public drain, which is NEA’s concern, while larger volumes bring a P&FM licence from SCDF. Either way the oils sit low, contained and clear of ignition sources.

Plan the waste drum into the same zone. Used oil leaves a Singapore workshop through a licensed collector, so the store needs a marked, bunded position for the waste container instead of the corner it usually ends up in.

Store drums the way you draw from them. A drum stood upright with its bungs sealed keeps water out of the oil, while a drum laid in a cradle with a tap wants a tray underneath it, because the tap is where the slow weep starts.

How should tyres be stored on workshop shelving?

On edge on a shelf or rack, or stacked flat only to a limited height, and away from heat and electric motors. Tyres deform under their own weight in a tall flat stack, and rubber ages faster near heat and near the ozone a motor gives off.

Orientation protects the casing. A tyre standing on edge on a shelf holds its shape indefinitely, while the bottom tyres of a tall flat stack go out of round over a few months, which is why a tyre rack stands them in a row.

Tyres are a fire load that the layout has to respect. Rubber burns hot and long, so keep the tyre store clear of sprinkler heads and separated from ignition sources under the SCDF Fire Code 2023, and site it away from the oil drums. A regular storage inspection is where you catch stack heights and separation drifting back out of line.

Rotate the stock by date code. Tyres age on the shelf whether or not anyone fits them, so read the week and year moulded into the sidewall and work the oldest out first rather than picking off the front of the rack. A rack loaded from one end and picked from the other does that rotation for you without anyone having to think about it.

What shelving suits bulky or awkward components?

Open, deep shelving or cantilever arms, with the level spacing set to the part instead of a standard pitch. Exhausts, panels, bumpers and shafts do not fit a boxed shelf, so they need open access and a depth that matches the part.

Shape matters more than weight here. A long item like an exhaust or a length of trim overhangs a standard shelf and fights you on the way out of a closed bay, so cantilever arms hold it clear along its length, while a bulky boxed component wants a deep open shelf it slides straight off.

Open the pitch up for the tall items. A component that has to be lifted and tilted to clear the level above it gets dropped eventually, so set the spacing on a bulky parts bay against the largest item it holds.

Label the bay, since the part has no box to label. Arm and bay markers with the part numbers on them are the only way anyone finds a specific panel in a run of twenty that all look alike, and they stop parts creeping out into the aisle where a forklift will find them.

How do you store tools and small parts for fast picking?

In divided bins and trays at waist to eye height, sorted so the most used tools sit closest to hand. Small tools and fasteners are light and picked constantly, so they belong in the pick zone in a system that keeps every item in a known place.

Division is what makes a tool store work. Loose fasteners in labelled bins or tray levels stay sorted and quick to pick, while a deep plain shelf swallows small items behind each other within a week of anyone using it.

Height keeps it ergonomic. The tools reached dozens of times a shift sit between waist and eye level so nobody bends or stretches for them, boltless shelving carries the bins at that height, and bulk stock goes above or below. Consumables that get pulled by the handful, like gloves and rags, belong at the end of a run near the door rather than in the middle of the pick face.

Size the bins to the parts rather than buying one size. A bin big enough for a bracket holds a thousand washers that nobody can count, and the same bin in a smaller size doubles the part numbers you fit across a level.

Give the twenty tools everyone reaches for a shadow board instead of a bin. An outline on a board shows a missing spanner at a glance, which is the only thing that reliably brings hand tools back to the same place at the end of a shift.

What are the safety and fire rules for a workshop store in Singapore?

Three sit on top of the shelving: the Workplace Safety and Health Act for safe storage and lifting, the SCDF Fire Code for fire load and flammables, and NEA’s rules on oil and chemical spillage. A workshop store has to satisfy all three.

The duties divide cleanly. As occupier you owe a duty of care for safe storage and manual handling under the WSH Act, SCDF governs what burns through the Fire Code and the P&FM licence, and NEA governs what pollutes through spill and runoff control. Oils and tyres are what pull the fire and environmental rules into a store that plain shelving would never trigger.

Keep the safety data sheets where the stock is. A folder or a wall pocket at the flammables zone beats a file in an office nobody can reach during an incident, and it is the first thing an inspector asks to see.

Load ratings still sit underneath all of it. Whatever the fire and chemical rules add, each shelf carries only its rated load, and SEMA’s shelving load and deflection guidance applies to a workshop bay like any other. Compliance is built on top of a correctly rated shelf.

Zoning a workshop store to what it holds

A workshop store works when the shelving is zoned to the load and matched to the item. Heavy drums and castings sit low for stability and safe lifting, oils sit bunded under SS 532:2024, tyres stand on edge away from heat, bulky parts get open or cantilever access, and tools stay divided at the pick face. Get the zones and the containment right and one run holds the whole workshop safely.

Send us your stock list with the weights, fluids and bulky items, and we will design a zoned workshop storage layout that holds it safely. Request a workshop storage plan.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a full oil drum weigh?

A full 200 litre steel drum of oil weighs around 180kg once you add the drum to the fluid. That weight is why drums belong on bottom levels, and why the shelf and the floor beneath it both get checked, since four drums on one bay puts over 700kg into a small footprint.

Do I need a licence to store oil in my workshop in Singapore?

Not for small quantities below the SCDF Petroleum and Flammable Materials exemption, which covers many workshops storing oil lawfully without one. You still need secondary containment so a spill cannot reach the drain, under NEA rules, and used oil still leaves through a licensed collector. Larger volumes bring a P&FM storage licence from SCDF.

How high can I stack car tyres in storage?

Keep flat stacks to a limited height, because the bottom tyres in a tall pile go out of round under the weight above them. Storing on edge on a tyre rack is the better method and holds the casing true indefinitely. Tyres also carry a fire load, so keep them clear of ignition sources under the SCDF Fire Code.

What shelving is best for heavy engine parts and castings?

Heavy duty shelving or racking rated for the load, with the parts on the lowest levels. A casting or engine component is dense and usually a point load, so it wants a steel deck and a reinforced shelf, stored low for stability and safe lifting. Rate the shelf per level against the real weight.

Where should heavy items go on a workshop shelf?

On the bottom levels. Heavy stock stored low keeps the centre of gravity down so the run does not topple, and it keeps the lift between knuckle and shoulder instead of overhead. Light, frequently picked stock goes at waist to eye height, and slow moving light stock goes on the top levels.