OP
nickblake
Copy of letter sent to trading standards
Dear Sir
As an electrical engineer carrying out general electrical work , im concerned about the use of the plug in socket covers that are in general use , they appear to have become a requirment for and building that may have children , and to be honest they could potentially be very dangerous ,
Every socket outlet in use in the uk has to comply to BS1363 and all these sockets have shutters that cover the terminals and only open when the plug is inserted , I have lost count the amount of time i have had to attend to a socket where the earth pin of these covers has snapped off when they are removed leaving the shutters open , and have come across sockets where they cannot insert a plug and have found the earth pin of these covers stuck in the earth terminal ,again leaving the shutters open , i have recently done an Electrical installation condition report on a property where these were in use and found 2 of these plug in covers had had the earth pins broken off with shutters open , I have come to the conclusion that these covers are potentially dangerous and its only a matter of time before some one is injured as a resault of there use , I cannot understand why they are being used as the shutters in the sockets themselves acts as a safety barrier , another problem with these covers i have come accross is they bend if a child were to insert the socket cover upside down they will bend and open the shutters where if you did the same with a plug top it cannot be inserted into a socket when upside down so the barriers are protecting the live terminals , i have attatched 2 pictures of sockets discovered during an electrical safety check , if you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me
yours
Dear Sir
As an electrical engineer carrying out general electrical work , im concerned about the use of the plug in socket covers that are in general use , they appear to have become a requirment for and building that may have children , and to be honest they could potentially be very dangerous ,
Every socket outlet in use in the uk has to comply to BS1363 and all these sockets have shutters that cover the terminals and only open when the plug is inserted , I have lost count the amount of time i have had to attend to a socket where the earth pin of these covers has snapped off when they are removed leaving the shutters open , and have come across sockets where they cannot insert a plug and have found the earth pin of these covers stuck in the earth terminal ,again leaving the shutters open , i have recently done an Electrical installation condition report on a property where these were in use and found 2 of these plug in covers had had the earth pins broken off with shutters open , I have come to the conclusion that these covers are potentially dangerous and its only a matter of time before some one is injured as a resault of there use , I cannot understand why they are being used as the shutters in the sockets themselves acts as a safety barrier , another problem with these covers i have come accross is they bend if a child were to insert the socket cover upside down they will bend and open the shutters where if you did the same with a plug top it cannot be inserted into a socket when upside down so the barriers are protecting the live terminals , i have attatched 2 pictures of sockets discovered during an electrical safety check , if you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me
yours
