How to choose a racking inspector when there is no credential to check

Start by discounting the badges

Before the useful questions, clear the noise. Firms advertise themselves as certified, accredited, approved or qualified racking inspectors. In Australia those words have nothing behind them: no body issues them for racking inspection, no exam sits under them, and no register records who holds them. The full negative finding is set out under the absence of any licence or register.

A firm using that language is not necessarily bad at the work. Much of the industry has drifted into it because everyone else uses it. But it carries no information, so it cannot be the thing you choose on.

Two related claims to treat the same way. "AS 4084 certified" — the Standard is a document sold by Standards Australia and certifies nobody. And any red/amber/green scheme presented as an Australian requirement, which it is not, for reasons set out in the red, amber and green idea.

Experience, asked specifically

The regulators define a competent person as someone with knowledge and skills from training, qualification or experience. With no credential to verify, experience is the substance of the assessment — so ask about it precisely rather than accepting a number of years.

Ask how long they have inspected racking specifically, as distinct from installing it, selling it or working around it. Ask what they did before. Ask how many sites they inspect in a year, and how many resemble yours: a 40,000-position distribution centre and a retail stockroom are genuinely different problems, and so are drive-in systems where most of the structure cannot be seen from an aisle, or racking mounted on motorised carriages where the rails and drive mechanism are a second thing to check alongside the racking itself.

Ask who is actually attending. Firms sell on the principal’s reputation and send whoever is free. The answer that matters is the name of the person walking your floor and their experience, not the founder’s. That is what the competent-person test attaches to — a person, not a company.

Insurance, sighted

Two policies matter, for different reasons.

Professional indemnity covers the advice. This is the one people forget, and it is the one that responds if the assessment itself turns out to be wrong. Public liability covers the physical presence of a person working in your operating warehouse.

Ask for the certificates of currency, look at them, and check two things people skip: that the cover is current, and that the described activity includes racking inspection rather than a general trade description. A policy written for installation work does not necessarily respond to an inspection opinion.

Independence, and being honest about it

Many inspection providers also sell, install, repair or dismantle racking. That is not a scandal — it is where the expertise often lives, and a firm that has spent twenty years putting frames up has seen more failure modes than most.

But it is a structural fact about incentives, and you should hold it consciously. The person identifying the damaged components may also be the person quoting to replace them. Ask directly: do you sell racking, do you quote the repairs you recommend, and do you supply components?

How you handle the answer is a judgement call. Some buyers deliberately separate inspection from remediation, taking the report to a separate installer for quoting. Others accept the overlap for the convenience and manage it by getting the larger recommendations priced independently. Both are defensible. Not knowing which situation you are in is not.

Worth asking too whether the provider is tied to particular manufacturers, especially if your site is mixed — a run of second-hand racking combined with newer components, or several of the racking brands sold in Australia across different aisles, needs someone whose recommendations are not shaped by what they stock.

The sample report, and references

Ask for a redacted sample report before you engage anyone. It is the single most revealing thing you can request, and a provider who will not produce one has answered the question anyway.

What you are looking at: are findings located precisely enough that someone else could find them, is there a photograph attached to each, are observations separated from recommendations, is the scope stated including areas that could not be seen, and is the whole thing written for the person who has to act on it rather than for a filing cabinet. Our page on what a report should contain goes through the detail.

Then ask for two or three references from sites of a similar size and configuration, and actually ring them. The question worth asking a reference is not "were they good" but "what did you do differently after their report" — which separates the providers who produce documents from the ones who produce change.

Finally, get more than one quote, priced against the same pallet-position count so the numbers are comparable, and read what providers charge before you assume the cheapest is the same job. Then diarise it, because the annual interval comes around quickly.

Common questions

How do I verify a racking inspector is qualified?

You cannot verify it against a register, because none exists in Australia. What you can do is ask for evidence: years of racking-specific inspection work, the name of the person attending, current professional indemnity and public liability certificates covering this activity, a sample report and references you actually call.

Is it a problem if the inspector also sells racking?

It is not disqualifying, and it is common — the expertise often comes from that background. It is an incentive you should be aware of, since the person identifying the work may be the person quoting it. Ask directly, then decide whether to separate the two.

What insurance should a racking inspector carry?

Professional indemnity, which responds to the advice, and public liability, which responds to their physical presence on your site. Ask for both certificates of currency and check that racking inspection is within the described activity.

Should I use the same provider every year?

Continuity has real value — a provider who has read last year’s report knows where to look and can tell whether a flagged component has moved. Some operators rotate periodically for a fresh set of eyes. Either is reasonable, provided the reports are kept and handed over.

How many quotes should I get?

At least two, and make sure both are priced against the same pallet-position count and the same reporting depth. Quotes that differ wildly are usually quoting different jobs rather than different rates.

Read next

• the competent-person standard
• what providers charge
• in-house versus external inspection
• the written report
• the in-house or external decision
• racking repair cost