Retirement Benefits - Combined Targeted and Actual Domestic and Foreign Pension Plans Weighted Average Asset Allocation (Details)	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]
Percentage of plan assets, target	100.00%
Percentage of plan assets, actual	100.00%	100.00%
Equity securities
Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]
Percentage of plan assets, target	19.00%
Percentage of plan assets, actual	18.00%	16.00%
Debt securities & Cash
Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]
Percentage of plan assets, target	64.00%
Percentage of plan assets, actual	65.00%	65.00%
Alternative Investments
Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]
Percentage of plan assets, target	17.00%
Percentage of plan assets, actual	17.00%	19.00%

Percentage of target investment allocation to total plan assets. Includes, but is not limited to, percentage on weighted-average basis if more than one plan.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(5)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82843861&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanPlanAssetsTargetAllocationPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of fair value of investments (categorized by debt securities, equity securities, real estate and other plan assets) to the fair value of plan assets held.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82843861&loc=d3e2446-114920

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82843861&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanWeightedAverageAssetAllocations
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlansAndOtherPostretirementBenefitPlansTableTextBlockLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=hubb_DebtSecuritiesCashMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=hubb_AlternativeInvestmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: