When it comes to pallet racking in New Zealand, all local councils require consent.
Pallet racking is considered a separate structure to the building. Whether you’re the landlord or the business owner – depending on the situation – someone must obtain consent for the pallet racking being used in that building.
The consent is part of the building code made up of the following PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, fire report, slab report and a lighting report. The requirements of consent outline how stable structures should be to protect lives and property. It makes allowance for the intended use of a building, the consequence of failure and other limitations.
Not having consent on your racking could affect your insurance or possibly even your health and safety compliance in an emergency. Here’s a brief description of each of the consent documents and how they work.
Producer Statement 1 (PS1) is the evaluation of your racking design factoring in your seismic area, loading capacity and other considerations by an independent engineer. They will check and either sign off on the plan or come back with additional requirements.
The PS1 could come back with any of the following:
- Bigger post width
- Thicker post
- Higher beam profile
- Additional bracing
- Anchor requirement and embedment depth
This could even go the other way depending on the loading you need, and they may also recommend a lower spec of any of the above.
Once the plan has been updated to the engineer’s specifications the PS1 will be signed off.
PS2 is a peer review of the PS1 and will be sent to a different engineering company for evaluation. Outcomes of the PS2 could be the same as above at which point you would go back to the original engineer and discuss the findings of the PS2. Some councils may not require a PS2, or may require one at their discretion.
The PS3 is form that is signed by the installation supervisor carrying out the install. Basically, it asserts that the installers installed the racking as per the PS1.
Once the installation has been completed, you arrange for the original engineer to come to site and confirm the racking has been installed to the PS1 and issue a PS4.
Someone must obtain consent for the pallet racking being used in that building
A Fire report will assess the building and your product and issue recommendations. They will look for any need for in-rack sprinklers, solid board within levels, flue spaces and conformation of maximum storage height.
An Emergency lighting report will dictate where you need emergency lightning. In the event of a power cut, the emergency lighting report will dictate where you need adequate lighting for safe evacuation.
A Slab report is the conformation that the weight you’re putting on the racking can be held by the concrete slab. If there are any issues with this (i.e. your slab is thin or compromised), engineers can formulate a plan to rectify, hopefully without the need for a new one.
Code of Compliance (CCC). Once the PS4 has been issued, you arrange for the council to come to site to assess. The council will require all of the above reports along with the building WOF before issuing you with your Code of Compliance.
If you want an approximate price for consent, give us a call or contact us using the form below and we’ll be back to you with a rough idea of the cost. Even better, if you don’t have time to arrange engineers or wrangle local councils, we can take care of all of it for you. Just get in touch.