Safe zones for electric cables

Electric cables are usually run in one of a number of prescribed safe zones. Knowing where these zones are allows you to correctly install cables and help eliminated damage to them when drilling walls at a later date

The safe zones for cables concealed in walls are

• a horizontal zone within 150mm of the top of a wall

• a vertical zone within 150mm of the angle formed by two walls - e.g. internal and external corners.

• the horizontal and vertical zone adjacent to an electrical accessory (switch, socket, cable outlet etc)

• where an accessory on the reverse side of the wall can be easily determined, e.g. through a door or archway, and the wall or partition depth is 100mm or less, then the horizontal and vertical zones to that accessory apply to both rooms:

Where cables are not in installed in a safe zone then they need to be installed according to the rules explained here.

See Also

• Wiki Contents
• Wiki Subject Categories
• Cables
• Electrical Installation