If you happen to be seated at a desk as you read this, look around. If your workstation is typical, and you can see a proliferation of cables, the small cost of getting proactive with cable management should make a big difference!
Aside the look of lazy inefficiency, cable spaghetti on worktops – or under feet – can make cleaning impossible, being a breeding ground for mite allergens. Other consequences of the health & safety neglect can be yet more serious, potentially devastating. Then there’s the chance of restless feet getting entangled, to disconnect adjacent monitors and sending I.T Managers into panic.
Consider too how approximately three-thousand fires occur annually in UK from hazardous plugs, cables and socket blocks. Common causes include overloaded extension sockets, while knotted wires, split cable insulation, and trips from tugs on cable ends, can all lead copper conductor strands to snap and become heat spots that are a potential fire hazard. And 240v electrocutions can kill.
Then there is the constant danger posed by cables being trip wires; the risk of injury made greater by the fact our personal workspaces have reduced in space. It is little wonder how cable litigations have increased in recent years
Even needing to pick fallen cables off the floor, or go searching behind desks, can become a pain that wastes time.
The good news is that sorting cables can be incredibly easy, and inexpensive too!
We partner with D-Line, a UK cable management company offering full ranges of affordable solutions that require no electrical competence. Most products simply retro-fit around existing wires or socket blocks.
D-Line Floor Cable Protectors have a rear cavity that can fit over cables, with the tapered topside being pedestrian and wheelchair friendly. They are ideal for addressing trip hazards in areas with regular foot-traffic. The lengths are supplied coiled in a box, but easily uncoil to lay flat. Though supplied as 1.8 metre or 9 metre lengths, versions are available with push-in and pull-out connector pins that enable any length of cable to be covered!
In keeping with the D-Line ethos for cable management solutions that are simple to use, D-Line Socket Enclosures provide a smart way to contain socket blocks and cable clutter under desks or on desktops.
There are options available for popular 4 and 6 gang sockets. All have three cable entry or exit slots at rear, so cables can be routed as required. Produced in UK, and fully safety tested, the robust D-Line Socket Enclosures have a stylish design to complement modern workplaces.
Cables from Socket Enclosures can be neatly gathered in a choice of Cable Tidy Tubes, ideal for containing cables dropping behind desks too.
To keep floor space cable-free, it only takes a few minutes to attach a Cable Tidy Tray underside a desk. A template is included to locate brackets, which can be secured by the screws or adhesive tape strips provided. With the Brackets in place, users simply Clip the Tray onto the brackets. As easy as A,B,C, the D-Line Cable Tray can accommodate popular 4 or 6-way socket blocks, with plugs being accessible and the floor uncluttered.
On a desk top, peel-and-stick D-Line Cable Tidy Clips, and Bases, can both keep cables in place – so eliminating wasted time! To gather loose cables, attach cables to desk legs or around VDU risers for example; the D-Line hook and loop Cable Tidy Band is a perfect solution that is multi-purpose and re-usable.
Note D-Line is named after inventing ‘D’- shaped and linear trunking systems. These non-metallic strips can peel and stick to desks, or office walls. Lengths have a latching hinged and click-lock lid that makes it easy to add or remove cables.
It is appreciated how cables supplying equipment in modern workplaces make our work easier and more productive. To fulfil such best intentions requires however that we ensure those cables are used in ways that respect the contribution that effective cable management can make to health & safety, ergonomics, efficiency and productivity!