|  | 8.2 | Planning Structured Cabling: Wiring Closet Specifications
| 8.2.7 | Room and equipment access

The door of a wiring closet should be at least .9 m wide, and should swing open out of the room, thus ensuring an easy exit for workers. The lock should be located on the outside of the door, but allow anyone who is on the inside to exit at any time.

A wiring hub and patch panel may be mounted to a wall with a hinged wall bracket, or with a distribution rack. If the choice is a hinged wall bracket, the bracket must be attached to the plywood that covers the underlying wall surface. The purpose of the hinge is to allow the assembly to swing out so that workers and repairmen can easily access the back side of the wall. Care must be taken, however, to allow 48 cm for the panel to swing out from the wall.

If the choice is a distribution rack, then it must have a minimum 15.2 cm of wall clearance for the equipment, plus another 30.5-45.5 cm for physical access by workmen and repairmen. A 55.9 cm floor plate, used to mount the distribution rack, will provide stability, and will determine the minimum distance for its final position.

If the patch panel, hub and other equipment are mounted in a full equipment cabinet, they require at least 76.2 cm of clearance in front, in order for the door to swing open. Typically, such equipment cabinets are 1.8 m high x .74 m wide x .66 m deep.

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