Anti-Collapse Mesh for Pallet Racking — Why It Matters

What Is Anti-Collapse Mesh?

Anti-collapse mesh — sometimes called rack-back mesh, safety mesh or rear-of-rack cladding — is a welded steel mesh panel fitted to the rear face and ends of pallet racking bays to prevent pallets, cartons and loose items falling through the back of the racking into whatever is on the other side. That 'other side' is typically an adjacent pick aisle, a pedestrian walkway, a conveyor or an office wall, and in each case the consequence of an item falling through unhindered can range from stock damage to serious injury. Anti-collapse mesh does not stop the item being knocked or overpushed in the first place — that is a function of pallet condition, load stability and driver training — but it does contain the fallen item within the racking bay so that it drops harmlessly to the floor inside the rack rather than into the aisle behind.

Rack-Back vs Rack-End Mesh

There are three common configurations. Rack-back mesh covers the rear face of a single run of racking where the back of the rack faces an aisle, a walkway or a wall. Rack-end mesh covers the vertical ends of a run of racking — the end frames — where the end of the rack is exposed to forklift traffic or adjacent pedestrian access; this is particularly important at aisle ends where drivers turn tight to the end frame. Back-to-back rack protection is used where two runs of racking are placed spine to spine; rather than cladding both rears, a shared central mesh panel is fitted between the two runs to catch items falling from either side. The choice of configuration is driven by what is behind and beside the racking, not by the racking itself.

Regulatory and Industry Guidance

In the UK, the primary duty on employers to protect people from falling objects in the workplace sits under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. The Storage Equipment Manufacturers' Association (SEMA), the recognised UK trade body for storage equipment, publishes codes of practice for the design, use and inspection of pallet racking; SEMA guidance identifies items falling from racking as a foreseeable risk that should be controlled where operatives or the public work adjacent to the racking. Where the racking is used to store items that are unstable, oddly shaped or prone to shifting on the pallet, or where the aisle behind the rack is a pick aisle used by people rather than only forklift traffic, anti-collapse mesh is normally considered a reasonably practicable control measure.

Specification: Beam Pitch, Bracket Type and Panel Size

Anti-collapse mesh must be specified around the geometry of the racking it is protecting, not against a standard catalogue size. Key measurements are the horizontal upright pitch (frame-to-frame), the vertical distance between beam levels (beam pitch), and the depth of the pallet overhang beyond the rear beam. Panels are then supplied cut and framed to those exact dimensions so they fit cleanly between the uprights, either fixed to the rear of the frames via universal racking brackets that clamp to the upright, or bolted through pre-drilled holes on some racking systems. Where beam pitches vary up the rack — for example a wider bottom bay for taller stock — different panel heights are used at each level. Where pallets deliberately overhang the rear beam, the mesh is set back off the frame on standoff brackets to give clearance.

Mesh Aperture and Wire Diameter

Aperture size determines what the mesh will retain. A 50 × 50 mm mesh will hold back cartons, small containers and most loose product. A 50 × 100 mm mesh is lighter and cheaper and is often used where stored items are palletised whole units unlikely to fragment. Wire diameter is typically 3 mm to 4 mm for anti-collapse work; heavier wire is unnecessary because the panels are not primary structural elements. Panels are almost always powder coated — commonly in safety yellow (RAL 1023) or a two-tone with the racking's original manufacturer colour — so the mesh is highly visible against the stored product and against the surrounding structure.

Retrofit to Existing Racking

The great advantage of universal-bracket anti-collapse mesh is that it can be retrofitted to almost any existing pallet racking system without dismantling the racking. Rackstor UK Ltd surveys the racking in place, records the frame profile, upright pitch and beam pitch, and returns with cut-to-size panels and brackets ready to fit. Installation is normally carried out out-of-hours or during weekend downtime to avoid disrupting warehouse operations, and a bay of typical size can be fully clad in under an hour. If your racking has been damaged, bent or has out-of-tolerance uprights, those issues should be repaired before the mesh is fitted so that the mesh has a straight and true surface to align to.

Nationwide Supply and Installation

Rackstor UK Ltd supplies and installs anti-collapse mesh for all major makes of pallet racking across the UK. Call 0800 654 6955 or use the enquiry form for a free survey and fixed-price quotation.

Frequently Asked Questions