Safeguarding a cable run across an open floor.

Cover the rubber strip with wood effect sticky-back plastic, which you may find in poundland.

Or be cunning and run the wires through a decorative draught-excluder door snake.

Owain

cheaper than most.

Don't kid yourself that those rubber strips avoid a trip hazard. They are one, just more visible and legally acceptable.

NT

You want stylish? Up to the ceiling, across, down. :-)

My standby when teaching in a strange venue is masking tape. The buff coloured 4-ish inch wide stuff might not be too bad to tape down the edges of your rubber protector. Gives a better edge and not too different from beechwood.

Can be a sod to remove when you're finished though

That was it, but on reflection I think that short of spiked stiletto heels or football boots, cable isn't likely to be damaged in any way by the pressure of someone stepping on it, is it?

I'd get some ribbed rubber matting and just lay it over the cable.

Thanks to everyone for the new thoughts. I agree with the general view that a properly rebated and covered-over cable is the best approach, and that's what I shall eventually install, but until then I've been given lots of alternatives to think about.

I really wouldn't have expected so. Tripping is far more likely.

If it helps, ribbed rubber matting was what we used on location filming to cover lighting etc cables crossing say a pavement. The cable itself doesn't really need protection - it's more to force the cable to lay flat to the ground, so you don't trip over it.

Only trouble is decent ribbed rubber matting isn't cheap.

Stuff that for a game of soldiers, you need one of these:

A few bits of ply and you can have one.

What about converting that to a piece of no-longer used floor, by putting something heavy / awkward on it, eg a spare armchair?

Nightjar Obtrusive is good. It stops people stepping on it or tripping over it.

In the house of a friend was a half step. People kept tripping. I put a row of not very bright LEDs along it, powered from a wallwart. Since then no-one has tripped.

Bill

Nice idea, thanks, but it's not no-longer-used, it's only-seldom-used, which isn't quite the same thing.

But if the user of this bit of floor has to move a chair or table or whatever because it's covering a cable, they'll know they're doing it and it should then be safe.

But it'll just end up getting moved and then not put back.

Personally I'd just gaffer tape it neatly

I'm curious to know how seeing a trip hazard is unsafe, yet moving a chair and being less likely to see the trip hazard is safe. Sometimes safety talk does drift off a bit.

NT

There are a few single steps between the different parts of the building here, some are not well lit and have dark surfaces. A 1" wide strip of white tape along the top of the step is enough to show were it is and it works when there is a power cut and it's even darker than normal. B-)