The Rack Manufacturers Institute (RMI) has been expanding consensus standards for industrial steel storage racks for over 50 years. The industry developed its latest and most comprehensive consensus standards in 2012. Since that time, seismic design provisions and have been accepted as the default standard for the International Building Code and NFPA Building Codes.

R-Mark Certification and Why Is It Important?

An R-Mark Certification is a voluntary program for manufacturers of industrial steel storage racks and of welded wire rack decking. Obtaining a certification assures storage rack users that the rack frame, beam and decking capacities shown in a load capacity table were calculated in accordance with RMI’s ANSI MH16.1-2012: Specification for the Design, Testing and Utilization of Industrial Steel Storage Racks (referenced by the 2015 International Building Code (IBC) as the standard for safe design and installation of steel storage racks).

In order to earn an R-Mark license, two independent, US-registered professional engineers—with experience and expertise in the design and application of racking systems—must conduct a rigorous analysis of the manufacturing design process, including testing, calculations and resulting component capacities. This procedure confirms that the calculations were performed in a manner consistent with the RMI/ANSI MH16.1-2012: Specification.

If these requirements are met, an R-Mark Certification license is awarded, allowing them to display the R-Mark on any qualified product designed in the same manner. R-Mark certification gives users and owners of industrial steel storage rack and welded wire rack decking products the confidence that the R-Mark certified manufacturer of the rack system has the technical and manufacturing skills—as well as the ability—to produce rack that meets RMI codes and standards.

The factors to remember are:

• Seismic codes and requirements vary, while load types and component structures can be assembled in a nearly infinite number of combinations.
• R-Mark certification alone is not enough to ensure a safe system
• A rack owner must still have a qualified engineer review each application to ensure that the selected system components meet the requirements for the specific use and job site.
• Although RMI member companies created the R-Mark Certification program in 1999, membership in the association is not a requirement for earning an R-Mark license.

Why is RMI Certification Important to Camara Industries?

Camara Industries supplies RMI certified pallet rack products. Seismic engineering data and specifications have been tested for preliminary calculations specifically for seismic environments. This ensures our customer’s safety when purchasing rack especially in seismic zones.

As pallet storage racks were created to optimize warehouse and distribution operations, rack manufacturers developed new and competing products, thus the need for design standards and their implementation by the industries became obvious.

Incorporated in 1958, The Rack Manufacturers Institute (RMI) was established to oversee industry-wide issues. In 1964, the initial challenge was development of the first edition of an RMI standard, Minimum Engineering Standards for Industrial Steel Storage Racks. It represented the first step in developing specifications and other product design standards to suit the needs of users, manufacturers, and the engineering and code-enforcement communities.

From Fema-460 – September 2005