A reminder to everyone - FatallyFlawed - Child Plug Socket Covers Campaign

[pjhartnett]

Many thanks

Have just added a link to my website for you

Regards, Paul

 

[trev]

Popped round to my daughter's place after work today and found the health visitor there to see how my grandson is getting on, she was very pleased with his development but asked my daughter why she had no socket covers since she advised her last time to get some.
I started on about this campaign and how dangerous these things can be but it was like talking to a wall. She is absolutely convinced that every home with a toddler should have them and that it's tantamount to neglect not to. She wasn't too impressed when I pointed out the likelyhood of her knowing more about electrical accessories than me was nil.
If young parents are being told this by someone supposedly in the know then is it any wonder that they're still on sale so the health visitors are going to get an email from me.

 

[UNG]

Health visitors and social workers can't stand them from when I did a lot of work for a local health authority and was in their offices doing some repairs and they were talking about some of their patients like they were $$$$$ $$$$ (fill in the blanks as you see fit) they also seem to believe they are a higher form of life

 

[William Waite]

This is an excellent post, I had been telling anyone I came across using these; to remove them as I had seen a report in my local newspaper about a three year old that had done just this and ended up in A&E, I kept the article in my wallet to show people who had doubts as lay people do.

 

[FatallyFlawed]

This is an excellent post, I had been telling anyone I came across using these; to remove them as I had seen a report in my local newspaper about a three year old that had done just this and ended up in A&E, I kept the article in my wallet to show people who had doubts as lay people do.

Thank you William, can you please provide further details? A date would be very helpful, and the name of the newspaper it appeared in. If you could post an image of the article that would be terrific!

 

[nickblake]

I hate the things i did send a picture of a pin that had broken off in a socket leaving the exposed terminals to the ESC they told me they hadnt been aware of the problem and will be looking in to it , i shall take the socket to elex with me next week and give it to the ESC , i printed the article off the fatally floored wesite and gave it to our local community center who instantly removed them all from the sockets the ones that kept comming back that is i kept removing them and they were put back i have also sent the link to a customer of mine who insisted they were required like talking to a brick wall
hope you dont mind me using you info fatally flawed

 

[ADB57]

I just cannot understand how these made it to the market with such a weakness

 

[FatallyFlawed]

I hate the things i did send a picture of a pin that had broken off in a socket leaving the exposed terminals to the ESC they told me they hadnt been aware of the problem and will be looking in to it , i shall take the socket to elex with me next week and give it to the ESC , i printed the article off the fatally floored wesite and gave it to our local community center who instantly removed them all from the sockets the ones that kept comming back that is i kept removing them and they were put back i have also sent the link to a customer of mine who insisted they were required like talking to a brick wall
hope you dont mind me using you info fatally flawed

Thank you Nick, that is the sort of thing which should make a difference! The ESC has heard from FatallyFlawed many times. They are inconsistent on the subject of the dangers of mis-fitting plug-in devices. 3 Years ago, about a year after the FatallyFlawed campaign started, ESC issued a press release which claims that there is no evidence of danger caused by socket covers, and yet they have also published the “ELECTRICAL CHARGERS – buyer’s guide” which states: “If the charger does not easily plug into a socket, the pins may be the wrong size or length, or the distance between the pins may be wrong. If pins do not fit properly into the socket, overheating, arcing and mechanical damage can occur to both the socket and the charger, which can be dangerous.” I find it difficult to understand why ESC believes that incorrectly fitting chargers are a problem, but incorrectly fitting socket covers are not! I am sure that the ESC would like to hear from more Electricians who understand that there is a real problem here!!

 

[nickblake]

 

[IainR77]

Keep up the good work. I will pass on the message.

 

[Rich-B]

Never did bother to to fit socket covers when my kids were young, thought they were a total waste of money and now, as it turns out, I find that they could also have been very dangerous.
Thanks for bringing this to light Tony.

 

[Knobhead]

Just ensure you pass the message on to your children, you will be a grand father one day!

God help you!

 

[Rich-B]

You can be assured I will Tony.

 

[FatallyFlawed]

In late 2010 Clippasafe modified their socket cover (also sold as Boots and John Lewis brands). Having denied their product was unsafe, they modified to remove a couple of the specific problems, they made it no longer possible to poke a pin through the hole in the cover, and they lengthened the dummy L and N pins to stop the "pop out" effect.

But at the same time they messed with the dummy earth and introduced new problems. Clippasafe have no concept of how to design something which can be safely inserted into a UK socket! It is very important that all of the pins should be the correct size and shape, this “earth pin” completely fails to meet that requirement.

Here are some examples of reviews of the new version on Amazon:
"The top prong is tapered at the top, therefore when trying to insert them into the socket they will not go into the socket."
"I bought these for a toddler group and had to throw them out. They needed a hammer to put into sockets and very difficult to remove. A total waste of money."
"At first I was disappointed because I couldn't fit them into the socket outlets, it was to hard. I gave them another try and it finally fit, pushing strongly." This comment is the most telling, what did that strong push do? It may have damaged the shutter mechanism so that the shutters were left permanently open and ineffective! Or, as shown below, it may have damaged the earth contact itself.



The pictures on the left show an earth pin contact from a common type of socket, this is a Marbo from B&Q, but the older MK style is also like this, as a Duraplug multi-way adaptor. The contact is visible at the face of the socket and relies on the shape of the earth pin to allow it to enter. You can clearly see that the end of the real earth pin is shaped to fit, BS 1363 requires that the tip of the earth pin must be no more than 2mm wide, sockets are designed with the space between the empty contacts about 3mm. Compare this to the tip of the Clippasafe pin which is the full 4mm width of the pin, you can see that this cannot possibly fit! An adult who forces in a cover like this can cause real damage, as shown in the other pictures.

The first picture is a close-up of the same contacts, they are equally spaced in the earth pin hole, and the shutter opening device sits between them. The Clippasafe cover was then pushed hard into the socket and bent the contacts! You can see this in the centre picture, the left hand contact is now lower (and further back) than it was, the right hand contact is even more out of place. The third picture is the same view as the centre one, but with the back of the socket removed to allow it to be lit from the rear for a clearer picture. This socket is now damaged beyond safe use, the contacts have been bent so badly that a real earth pin will no longer fit! It would have to be replaced, and all due to the complete incompetence of the Clippasafe designer who did not bother to find out about the correct size and shape!!!

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has found such damged sockets.

 

[steves9395]

Hi I,m new to the site and have just read the fatally flawed campain, good grief I had no idea.
WHY are they still being sold by reputable shops?
They should be banned immediatly