5 vital safety tips to prevent trips and falls over loose cabling

Loose cabling is a threat in any environment, but it’s particularly prevalent in many of the industries that our customers work in here at Rubber Box. Places like workshops and factory floors, as well as theatres, sports venues and other event spaces – they’re all potentially at risk from trailing cables, often being used to power vital systems or facilities. If you’ve ever used rubber boxes or other power distribution equipment for your own organisation or event, it’s likely an issue you’ve found yourself facing, and it’s likely to form a crucial part of your legal obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act, too. So, here are some of the most useful ways to solve the issue.

Minimise unnecessary cabling as best you can

Just like a whole range of other issues, when it comes to trailing wires, prevention is often the best cure. It’s a good idea to start by doing what you can to minimise cabling in the first place, such as by unplugging any appliances or systems that aren’t actively in use, or absolutely necessary for your operations. And for whatever you’ve got left, try and make sure that it’s plugged in as closely as possible to where it actually needs to be, so that you’ve got the shortest possible stretches of wire – making it easier for people to avoid tripping over them.

Route cables along walls (or even across ceilings)

Another effective way to prevent bystanders from tripping over cabling is to run it along walls or under solid objects wherever possible, to minimise the opportunities that others might have to come into contact with it. If you’re wiring a permanent system or installation rather than a temporary one, you might even want to consider running it up the corners of the room to run across the ceilings if possible. It will take a bit of extra work, but will provide an invaluable extra level of safety.

Keep things tidy with cable tidies or cover strips

There are countless products available that you can use to keep your cabling as tidy as possible, and fixed to the floor if the situation calls for it. Simple cable tidies are useful options for smaller or thinner bundles of wires, whereas cord floor covers are a good way of protecting thicker wires that might be involved in more permanent installations, such as a TV studio. In some circumstances though, these measures alone might not quite be enough to provide complete peace of mind against tripping hazards. You then might want to consider…

Increase visibility and awareness as much as possible

Once you’ve tidied your cords and cables and / or fixed them in place as best you can, if you’ve still got any doubts about their safety it’s a good idea to look at highlighting them further with prominent signage, or extra lighting in particularly dangerous areas, so that people have got better opportunities to spot and avoid the hazard in question. The lighting itself doesn’t have to be permanent, or even particularly expensive – a common floor lamp angled towards the hazard can do the job just fine.

Make sure that any and all accidents are properly recorded

If the worst does happen and an accident does end up occurring, one of the most important steps to take after the event is to ensure that all details of the accident are comprehensively gathered and reported. That includes all circumstances leading up to the event, all factors that may have influenced its occurrence, and the eventual consequences. It’s a vital step for preventing an avoidable recurrence of any incidents in future, for which there can sometimes be severe legal consequences.

Now, we’ll leave the specifics of your own situation entirely up to you – you’re the person best positioned to judge them, after all! As for us, you can count on us here at Rubber Box to provide a wide range of power distros to choose from, ranging from our 32A power supply distros to our 63A power supply distros. Or, if you know what you want already, you can always request a quote now! We’re always happy to provide guidance you might need, so if you’re looking for a quick word of advice just give us a call on 01282 677 910.