The importance of cable labeling is akin to the importance of writing a child’s initials on their clothing tags before they leave for summer camp: There are just too many opportunities to lose track if you don’t. And when you are wiring a commercial building for power and communications, the stakes are orders of magnitude higher. 

And the real benefit is for your future self, or the person responsible for maintenance. Thoughtful, consistent cable labeling can save hours of unnecessary work when troubleshooting issues, making changes or upgrading. 

It’s a tedious job, to be sure, but the rewards are indisputable.

Establish A Cable Identification Convention That Is Scalable

While it may seem like overkill at first, you’ll quickly discover how beneficial a strong identification convention is, and how awful a bad one is. 

The ANSI TIA 606-B Cable Labeling Standard is an excellent place to start. It suggests a number of basic criteria for your identification convention (as well as detailed criteria for highly specific applications). ‍

Consistency: Use the same identification system across all locations and harmonize it with whatever is represented on the project plan.‍

Orientable: Identify the physical places where the cable originates and terminates, including the room, rack, and port.‍

Legible: If you can’t read it, it doesn’t count. Make sure the label will be legible in whatever environment and conditions the cable is installed in.‍

Consensual: You need buy in from all the decision makers on the identification convention, not just the planners or the team installing it.‍

Pervasive: If it’s a wire or cable that is integral to transmitting signal or power it needs a label. No exceptions. 

The full standard contains granular details on cable identification for nearly every industrial application. While ANSI does charge for access to the complete document, it is a worth investment for anyone installing more than a few dozen cables.   

Label Considerations

It’s well worth considering the full scope of your structured and unstructured cabling needs before choosing a system. It’s not uncommon to use thousands of labels, even tens of thousands of labels by the time the last cable is laid and connected.

Size

Cable diameter should be one of your first considerations. How many different sizes of cables are you installing? Can you use the same basic label type for all of them? Obviously, if you can stick with a single wire labeling method, you’ll reduce complexity and costs. That said, if your cables need to endure harsh environments, you will likely need multiple labeling solutions.

Environment

Will any of your cables be exposed to extreme temperature, chemicals, or physical abuse? The type of material you choose for your label should be capable of enduring that environment without becoming unreadable or deteriorating.

Label Types

Different label materials are compatible with different types of printers — don’t even think about handwriting your labels on tape. That’s just asking for errors and confusion.

You may need to consider the label material type as well as the compatible printer. Ink has a tendency to dissolve, smudge, or deteriorate if subjected to the wrong chemicals or environmental conditions. Laminated labels can help with this issue and provide extra durability for the label overall.

Vinyl is a popular material that is versatile, durable, and commonly used for wire labels, but there are other options designed for specific use cases.

Label Application 

Think about the permanence of your label when evaluating different attachment mechanisms. Heatshrink tubing is an excellent example of a permanent label type. There’s no adhesive or mechanical connection that can fail — whereas hook and loop or tape can be peeled off and lost. 

Color Coding Wires

You’re not required to color-code your wires and cables, but ANSI/TIA-606-B recommends the following color designations:
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Orange – Demarcation point (central office termination)

Green – Network connections on the customer’s side of the demarcation point

White – First-level backbone: main cross-connect to a TR (telecommunications room) in the same building

Gray – Second-level backbone: cabling between two TRs, or between an intermediate cross-connect and a TR in a remote building

Brown – Interbuilding backbone cables (across a campus)

Blue – Termination of horizontal cabling at the closet end only

Purple – Common equipment: PVBX, LANs, and individual computers

Yellow – Auxiliary circuits, such as alarms and security systems

Red – Key telephone systems termination

Planning Now Pays Later

Whatever labeling scheme you decide on, remember that the goal is to ease the work of installing, maintaining, and upgrading the wiring infrastructure. Imagine running back and forth along cable-trays, shouting into walkie-talkies, and poking a multi-meter over through bundles of terminated, unlabeled cables — if there’s a problem in the system, your odds of finding it go WAY up if you’ve made it easy to see at a glance where a cable starts, ends, and what purpose it plays overall.