Automated storage and retrieval system

A method of providing access to equipment arranged at, or accessible from, the top level of an automated storage and retrieval system comprising a three-dimensional grid and a plurality of container handling vehicles,

• wherein the three-dimensional grid comprises multiple storage columns, in which containers may be stored on top of one another in vertical stacks;
• and each container handling vehicle comprises a container lifting device having a lifting frame for releasably connecting to a container, and is operated on rails at a top level of the grid for retrieving containers from, and storing containers in, the storage columns, and for transporting the containers horizontally across the grid;
• wherein the automated storage system comprises multiple floor elements, each floor element arrangeable at a top end of a storage column, on top of and supported by a vertical stack of the containers such that an operator may stand on top of the storage column;
• the method comprising:
• identifying a set of adjacent storage columns forming a continuous section between an operator accessible part of the top level of the grid and the equipment;
• and
• arranging a floor element at the top end of each storage column in the set of adjacent storage columns, such that a walkway is formed between the operator accessible part of the top level of the grid and the equipment.