All You Need To Know About The New SEMA Members Categories

As one of the leading voices on safe practices for the storage equipment industry, SEMA knows the importance of ensuring our advice is simple and easy to follow. For over 50 years, we have been instrumental in putting guidance in place which covers the lifetime of your racking. The approach we developed covers your equipment from the manufacture, design and installation right through to the maintenance of your system.

Yet, as the industry evolves, so does our need to update practices and guidance that not only meets market requirements, increases quality but also improves safety standards. Over the years we have introduced new or revised measures to improve standards, whether it is updating our Codes of Practice or improving training standards for our SEIRS courses.

Now, in a new phase, we have simplified our SEMA members categories.

Why have you changed the SEMA members categories?

We know that navigating the warehouse racking industry can be a challenging task. There are hundreds of designers, manufacturers, suppliers and installers of storage equipment in the UK, ranging from sole traders to multi-million-pound corporations. Knowing which one to work with can be difficult for business owners.

That’s why we wanted to change our criteria. Members must still deliver the same high level of standard, but now anyone looking for a storage equipment company can easily find the right fit for them.

Why Work with SEMA Members?

The first thing to explore is what SEMA Members can offer your business over other suppliers. SEMA Members are all committed to working to the highest quality and industry standards. Through their membership with SEMA, they are continuously updated on updates to regulations and guidance.

Work with SEMA Members and they can also help you meet your Health & Safety requirements. Under HSE guidance, a warehouse owner is responsible for checking that the pallet racking installed in their warehouse is serviceable, fit for purpose, and certificated by a competent person. If a bad accident happens in your workplace and you’ve failed to check the credentials of your supplier, the penalties can be harsh.

Perhaps most importantly, a SEMA Member can, through their commitment to independent audits, clearly demonstrate their credentials.

SEMA Approved Manufacturer Full Member

SEMA Approved Manufacturer - Full Members rank among the very best in the world. They are largely (but not all) members of global organisations for whom the principles of quality, safety, and reliability are fundamental to long-standing market success.

As the Membership category name suggests, these members will manufacture, design and supply the products. As a SEMA Member, they will also ensure the storage equipment is installed by SEIRS qualified installers and regularly maintained by SEMA Approved Rack Inspectors (SARI).

Whether you need robust racking systems or custom storage solutions, SEMA Approved Manufacturer Full Members have the expertise and dedication to meet your requirements. By investing in research and development, they ensure their products not only meet current needs but anticipate and address future challenges in the storage industry. To ensure the highest quality, SEMA Approved Manufacturers Full members undertake independent product design assessments. This process validates that design calculations and product testing meet SEMA’s published Codes of Practice, providing peace of mind that the equipment is safe and reliable.

The advantage of working with SEMA Approved Manufacturer Full Member is the protection it provides your business. Through SEMA, the work of each member is interrelated to provide security throughout the lifetime of your racking. SEMA Approved Members and SEMA Approved Members – Advanced work closely alongside our manufacturing members. This relationship allows them privileged access to their technical departments and qualifies them to conduct work on behalf of SEMA Manufacturer Full Members. Any remedial or alteration work undertaken by an SEMA Approved Member or SEMA Approved Member – Advanced will not invalidate the original racking warranty if supplied by a SEMA manufacturer.

SEMA Approved Member Categories

To further raise our expectation on the level of quality and safety delivered by our members we have introduced two levels to the SEMA Approved Member status. Companies in both groups must commit to meeting our high levels of quality standards. They must also agree to the following:

• SEMA Approved Members must pass the independent audit and commit to using SEIRS qualified installers, Supervisors and Managers on their project. They must also use a SEMA Approved Rack Inspector (SARI) for racking inspections.
• SEMA Approved Members – Advanced can demonstrate they are committed to meeting a higher level of SEMA criteria based on the results of their independent audit. They must also demonstrate they adhere to SEMA initiatives such as SEIRS and SARI.

Whichever member group you decide to work with, through their SEMA badge you can be confident you have a supplier who is meeting the highest levels of safety and quality. If you’d like to find out about becoming a member, contact the SEMA office. Or visit our Find A Member page and talk through your requirements with one of our SEMA Members.