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Eliminate forklifts from long tube handling: an extractable cantilever rack that passes the safety audit

Workplace safety and safety audits

Eliminate forklifts from long tube handling: an extractable cantilever rack that passes the safety audit

A steel mill moves hundreds of long tubes and profiles every shift, and the fastest way to fail a safety audit is to let a forklift carry a 6-meter bar through a pedestrian aisle. An extractable cantilever rack removes the forklift from the aisle: each tube size rests on its own arm with 100% extraction, lifted and positioned by the overhead crane, so the only person in the pedestrian walkway never has to touch the load.

Scaffalatura a sbalzo telescopica in un magazzino di acciaio, che immagazzina tubi quadrati lunghi con movimentazione tramite carroponte
Request a safety layout review
ProdottoTelescopic / extractable cantilever rack (Terack)
Carico per livello braccioFino a 1500 kg per tubi e profilati pesanti
ReachArms extractable to 100% up to an overhead crane pick-up point
OperazioneSingle-operator manual crank; the overhead crane lifts the load
Aisle safetyNo forklift in the storage aisle; people separated from moving loads
StrutturaMontanti in acciaio al carbonio Q235, bracci guidati da rulli
01

The audit question no plant manager wants to be asked

For a safety manager in a steel group, the audit question is simple and uncomfortable: how are long tubes moved from receiving to the line? Too often the answer is a forklift carrying a 6- or 12-meter bar through a shared aisle, with a spotter walking backward and a crane crew waiting on the other side. This is exactly the cross-traffic between pedestrians and lifting equipment that a safety auditor flags first. A long steel tube carried on forks bends, slips, and whips; a 1500 kg bar dropped gives no second chance. Before the plant even reaches the formal audit, every manual tube movement is a recorded exposure, and a forklift in the aisle is the highest-risk item on the safety manager's list.

Officina di fabbrica con scaffalatura a sbalzo telescopica a più livelli che immagazzina barre d'acciaio lunghe accanto a stazioni di lavorazione
02

The finding concerns movement, not the rack

The audit does not fail on the rack; it fails on movement. When long tubes are stored loose on the floor or on fixed racks, the only way to retrieve them is a forklift in the aisle or a two-person manual carry, both of which keep a raised load in a pedestrian area for the entire retrieval. For a plant manager under a strict safety audit, this is an open finding: unprotected crushing risk, no segregation between people and moving loads, and no engineered control over how the bar is extracted. Adding more floor markings does not close the finding. The shop needs a storage method in which the long load is never carried through a pedestrian walkway by a forklift, and in which the hazardous task is designed to be eliminated rather than flagged.

Scaffalatura a sbalzo telescopica pesante che immagazzina profilati lunghi in acciaio in un'officina di fabbricazione
03

An extractable cantilever rack removes the forklift from the aisle

An extractable (telescopic) cantilever rack is designed so that the forklift never enters the aisle. Each tube size rests on its own arm with 100% extraction; a single operator turns a rack-and-pinion crank and the loaded arm extends on bearings to an overhead crane pick-up point. The overhead crane, already the safe and engineered way to move long steel, performs the lift while the worker stays at a distance. This eliminates the cross-traffic between pedestrians and lifting equipment that generates audit findings, and turns long tube handling from manual transport into controlled crane-only movement. For a safety manager, this is the control the auditor is looking for: the hazardous task is eliminated, not just flagged, and every retrieval is repeatable and documented.

Dettaglio guida a rulli della scaffalatura a sbalzo telescopica con trave rettangolare in acciaio Q235
04

The safety case is built into the structure

The compliance argument is in the steel. Terack extractable cantilever racks use Q235 carbon steel columns with roller-guided arms rated for 1500 kg per arm level, so a 6- or 12-meter tube rests straight and supported instead of being tilted and bent. The arms are perforated and repositionable without fabrication, so every diameter—seamless, ERW, galvanized, square, or round—gets its own labeled and segregated bay. Because the load is retrieved via crank and overhead crane, there are no forklift impacts, no manual dragging, and no exposure to dropped bars in the aisle. Fixed-capacity rated arms are the engineered control: every tube is stored within a documented safe working load, which is exactly what a safety audit wants to see on paper and on the floor.

Sistema di scaffalatura a sbalzo telescopica installato in fabbrica con montanti blu e bracci in acciaio rossi per lo stoccaggio di tubi lunghi
  • Crane-only handling of long tubes and profiles, with the forklift removed from the storage aisle
  • Labeled and segregated bays by diameter and grade to meet safety audit documentation

Download the Terack plant safety rack layout sheet

Close the long tube safety finding in your plant

Send us your tube and profile dimensions, bay lengths, and overhead crane capacity, and we will design a Terack extractable cantilever rack that places every long load at an overhead crane pick-up point and keeps the forklift out of the aisle.

Request a safety layout review and you will receive a crane-ready storage plan.

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