Look out for the SEMA Distributor Company logo
December 05th 2011 The Storage Equipment Manufacturer Association (SEMA) has launched a new group for distributor members, the SEMA Distributor Group (SDG). Members of the SDG will be known as SEMA Distributor Companies (SDCs) and are entitled to display the SDC logo on promotional materials and vehicles.
The group already comprises more than twenty members some of whom were previously SHEDA members. Over many years, SHEDA enjoyed increasingly strong links with SEMA and both associations recognised the benefits of unity. SHEDA has now ceased to be a formal entity.
SEMA Distributor Companies will supply products that are recognised as fit for purpose and all works will be carried out by installers that can be individually certified through SEIRS. These two strengths combine to supply storage and handling solutions which can meet all legislative requirements and provide clients with confidence and value for money.
So when looking for a distributor, an end user can turn to independent companies that are members of the SDG and know that they are dealing with reputable organisations.
SEMA Distributor Companies are fully committed to best practice in Health & Safety, installing original equipment, the SEIRS training programme and the SDG Member Charter.
SDG members benefit from SEMA brand status and have a voice on SEMA Council, committees and working groups including SEIRS. The SEMA Distributor Group has laid out rigorous criteria for membership. An SDC business must have been formally constituted as a legal company for at least two years. It must hold a main distributorship from a recognised manufacturer of storage equipment and an appropriate health and safety policy must be in place.
There is an undertaking to conform to SEMA Codes of Practice, standards and safety initiatives including SEIRS where the SDC also undertakes installation work. Where installation is carried out as part of the company’s activities there must be at least one SEIRS Supervisor on board.
Permanent Installation staff must hold full SEIRS ID Cards. Critically, SDG members must conform to a random audit. A SEMA-appointed auditor will study a recent completion and review all documentation including quotation, design, submission, installer details, methods and sign off. SDCs may only use the SEMA Distributor Company logo in association with new, original equipment supplied. They must demonstrate DQAS Compliance (the SEMA Distributor Quality Assurance Scheme).
Other SEMA Distributor Company benefits and entitlements include a certificate to mark their admission qualification, an SDC listing on the SEMA website, www.sema.org.uk, and generous discounts on SEMA and SEIRS training events, conferences and publications such as SEMA Codes of Practice.
Cost of annual membership for 2011/12 is £1400. John Halliday, President of SEMA, said; ‘For over 40 years, SEMA has acted as a lead body for our industry driving safety through design and installer training. Today’s announcement strengthens the relationship between well designed storage solutions from SEMA manufacturers and the SEMA distributor companies who supply and install them. This gives clients the ability to identify storage solutions that will meet their demands and enable them to operate their storage activities with total confidence.’
David Camm, Chairman of the SEMA Distributor Group, said: ‘We have more than twenty SDC members nationwide already fully approved and we anticipate that many more companies will see real value in applying for SEMA’s Distributor Group status. However, our joining criteria are strict and commitment to a random audit will be a deterrent to some. There will be continuity as practically every single former member of SHEDA has chosen to opt for a SEMA Distributor Group membership.’
SEMA Codes of Practicemet at LMA
The London Metropolitan Archives is the largest local authority record office in the country and custodian of the City of London Archives. This is one of the oldest and most wide-ranging civic archives in the world and holds documents dating back to the 11th century. The collection traces the history of the City and its inhabitants through tumultuous events including civil war, national unrest, the terrifying Plague and the Great Fire of London, through to the development of modern metropolitan London.
The LMA was formerly known as the GLRO (Greater London Record Office) and was housed in several facilities in London including the old County Hall on the South Bank. Accessed regularly in response to commercial, local government and public enquiries, the repository needed to benefit from a major refurbishment, including the installation of shelving systems. The first large extension project undertaken was in the late 1980s, when the site at Northampton Road became the main repository for The City of London. The contract involved installing mobile shelving and mobile plan chests over four levels of the building. At that time, the floor was of revolutionary design. Not only could it support the tracks but it could also accommodate movement in the floor structure.
In 2004, a second large installation was fitted within the existing building and, standing some 5.5m high, it became one of the first ‘high-rise’ mobile systems in the UK.
Once more, a bespoke track & floor system was developed to cope with the use of the order pickers that were also supplied. The design has subsequently been adopted by several other important archives nationwide.
To comply with BS5454 when tendering, a performance specification was written and adopted by the City Surveyors that asked for SEMA Codes to be adhered to and only SEIRS installers to be engaged.
A third refurbishment was carried out in 2008 adding approximately 3000 linear metres of capacity. Compared with the previous system, the storage facility has created some 13.5km of additional shelving for the London Metropolitan Archives. The layout now features 120 back-to-back shelving runs with a variation of between six a nd twelve bays in length. Most areas use twelve shelf levels.
The mobile shelving is operated by an easy-to-use, ergonomicallydesigned hand wheel. Its configuration allows the majority to be kept closed, so maximising floor area capacity, while additional static shelving provides even more archive space.
The LMA has invested over £1.5 million in storage systems at the Northampton Road site and the archive system now enables the location to operate with extremely high levels of efficiency.
A SEMA member company was awarded Principal Contractor status for the installation, managing all site activities under Construction Design & Management (CDM) regulations, with a recommendation to engage only SEIRS (Storage Equipment Installers Registration Scheme) installers.
The project, which conforms to the SEMA codes of practice – the UK’s only recognised design standard for storage equipment – had the following key objectives:
• Maximise storage capacity with only minimal increase in footprint.
• Accommodate standard archive box dimensions used by the facility alongside storage for larger items including maps and plans.
• Permit on-demand access to the full archive throughout the installation period.
• Incorporate building support beams and sprinkler locations into the shelving design.
• Ensure that flooring alignment issues, which relate to the building’s previous use of heavy machinery, do not affect the function of the mobile shelving system.
• Comply with customer’s requirement for BS5454. More articles from Storage Equipment & Manufacturer’s Association: | 
