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With a myriad of styles and finishes available for wiring accessories, Katie Plumstead, Scolmore’s Group Marketing Manager, looks at what makes simple, white accessories the bread and butter for the electrical contractor.

There has never been a wider choice of styles and finishes in wiring accessories available, giving end users the opportunity to reflect the latest trends for interior design in the switches and sockets that they choose. Scolmore supplies one of the most comprehensive wiring accessories collections currently available on the market. There is something to suit all levels of budget, style requirements and finishes – from the Essentials basic range through to the Deco Plus premium, decorative metal collection. For Scolmore, however, it is the Click Mode range of white wiring accessories that remains the company’s best-selling wiring accessories collection to date.

The Mode range was conceived and developed as a high quality, flexible and modern solution for virtually any domestic wiring requirement. The smooth, contemporary lines of the Mode accessory plate will fit easily into traditional and contemporary designs alike and the modular design allows installers unprecedented flexibility in creating dedicated wiring solutions to deal with specific wiring needs.

When selecting wiring accessories installers have often had to compromise their schemes as they have been unable to identify a suitably modular solution to satisfy their ideas. Mode accessories have been providing that flexibility, with a comprehensive selection of products ranging from the humble light switch and socket outlet through to more specialised products dealing with the very latest developments in telephone and satellite products.

Scolmore has continued to invest in this range since it was originally launched, introducing products in visually contrasting versions to meet with Part M regulations, adding the award-winning Mode locating plug socket soon after. This was followed by USB sockets available in one- and two-gang, and single and twin USB options, with integrated Type A and Type C charging ports on the same socket, added most recently. The latest development to the Mode range saw the launch of lounge combination plates, giving the installer the flexibility to configure any combination of audio, video, data and media connection on one plate as required.

Scolmore continues to invest to ensure that its wiring accessory products offer enhanced hygiene properties. Mode, Mode Part M and Polar plates have recently undergone further independent testing and have achieved a 99.98% kill off rate against Influenza A (H1N1) after a 24-hour period.

This latest testing further boosts the range’s hygiene credentials. Independent testing previously undertaken has also shown the products to have anti-viral properties against enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. After a contact period of four hours, all tested plates were shown to have a 99.9% kill off rate against enveloped viruses and a 92% kill off rate against non-enveloped viruses. This anti-viral testing is in addition to the anti-bacterial testing already carried out. Mode, Mode Part M and Polar ranges are all manufactured using Urea Formaldehyde, which has similar inherent properties to antimicrobial additives that inhibit the growth of infectious diseases. When independently tested, all products achieved a 99.99% kill off rate across all four types of the strains of bacteria – MRSA, E-Coli, Salmonella and Klebsiella Pneumonia.

The standard used to qualify Scolmore’s products is ISO 22196. The standard ISO 22916 test method is designed to test the ability of plastics and other similar materials to kill or prevent the growth of microorganisms, over a 24-hour period of contact. ISO 22196 is one of the most commonly requested antimicrobial surface test methods for evaluating the antimicrobial activity of antibacterial treated plastic products.

Contractors will have the additional reassurance that all Scolmore BS1363 products – in particular socket outlets – are third party approved and bear the BSI Kitemark logo. The company has held this certification for over 25 years – a clear demonstration of the company’s commitment to adhering to the highest standards of quality and safety of the products it supplies to the professional electrical market.

Products from the Mode range have been specified and installed across a huge range of applications including schools, hospitals, care homes, hotels, offices and leisure complexes.