To remind people of the danger of socket covers

[FannyFeatures]

I've seen these mentioned in a few threads recently regarding baby proofing/safety equipment and worse, are still sold by many reputable retailers.

Placing a "plug" into the socket opens up the safety latch and activates the circuit.

Information on the dangers here www.fatallyflawed.org.uk

They are no longer authorised for use in child/health care services for this reason.

I work in a private care setting for young people with disabilities and learning support needs, we are not allowed to use socket covers either (we have key operated sockets) as an advisory from the Care Inspectorate either.

If the NHS is covering their arses so are the Scottish Government.

of course they are. it's the primary requirement before any care policies.

My blind cords are tied up out of reach. They terrify me. Luckily most of them have the plastic poles instead.

Our many bookcases are all attached to the wall as well, another thing that terrified me, mainly because I remembered how I used to climb up shelving.

Plug sockets - I never used the covers. Mentioned the idea and my DF explained in detail why they weren't needed (retired electrical engineer). I'm sure it's subserving I knew, but in the post natal fog there were many things that suddenly seemed urgent for safety reasons that probably weren't really.

{Both pins can cause electrocution under certain circumstances. You have to remember that while a socket might be switched off, there can still be current flowing through the neutral connection, for example, if the socket is part of a ring circuit. Traditionally the socket switch would only isolate the live conductor, however, many modern socket switches will isolate both neutral and live, but I'm getting too technical here.}

Neutral and earth should be bonded together at the fusebox (breakers) and unless there is a 'catastrophic' fault or incorrect installation the neutral should never be able to get above 10 Volts under any fault condition IIRC.
Of course with such a faulty installation all bets are off anyway.
Thus although neutral should be considered possibly live' it should never be. The fact it is on a 'ring' makes no difference unless there is a fault.

The earth and neutral are not bonded at the fusebox. In most installations they are bonded at the cutout where the supply cable enters the property, if you have a TN-S supply they aren't bonded in the property but further down the line. In a perfect scenario neutral will indeed be near 0v. However, the neutral conductor (and it's called a conductor for a reason) carries the return current back to the CU and eventually to earth. If you touch the neutral conductor while there is load on the circuit you WILL get a shock, how bad depends on numerous factors including whether or not you are grounded to anything, load on the circuit, conductor resistances, etc. Why a ring does make a difference is that there is more chance of being shocked from a neutral conductor on a final ring circuit where currents are usually higher than on radials, along with the fact that with a radial you could possibly touch the neutral upstream of load and not have a shock, whereby on a ring current will be flowing both directions back to the CU to some degree.

I have to childproof my place of work. I am always told that I must use socket covers. I am very aware of how unnecessary and dangerous they can be but trying to change ‘professionals’ minds is exasperating. People are stuck in one way of thinking and are often not able to take in new information. Well done for highlighting this danger.

My health visitor quizzed me on why we didn't have them when she did DS's 12 month check a few months ago

Would be best if they’re dangerous not to make them, plus it’s just more plastic we don’t need.

{ If you touch the neutral conductor while there is load on the circuit you WILL get a shock,}
If the Neutral has risen more than 10 Volts then the installation is seriously faulty.

I went round my ward at work about 3 years ago and threw them all away.

Mine have all been thrown out since I posted my worries the other day. Toddler hasn't even bothered going near the plugs so I'm really pleased I came across this thread and made things safer.

YY, this drives me nuts.

Just before DD was born my SIL (who has no children) got into a flaming row with us when we said we weren't planning to use them, insisting we were being reckless. It ended with her insisting intransigently that she would have them for her children if and when she had them and we would see how wrong we were. She's not a particularly chippy or unreasonable person in general, and isn't given to arguments, so it really stuck in my mind. She's brought it up subsequently and clearly thinks it really is an issue that we won't use them.

This really should be more well publicised! I had no idea, and I'm a bit of a health and safety freak.

Wow!

Had absolutely no idea,
Been meaning to buy some for a while but definitely won't be now.

and I'm not disagreeing... However, when we're talking about domestic circuits that could potentially have 20+ amps flowing through them, the voltage on the neutral, even though low, is still a danger. Remember that while 10v or less would not have the punch-through voltage to penetrate past the skin, we are talking about children. Firstly, they haven't the increased skin resistance that adults have, second, if other children are anytging like mine there hands are covered in dribble for teething or juice from there bottle, they certainly havn't got dry hands. This fact alone significantly reduces the requirement for high voltage to penetrate the skin. Further, kids hands are often sweaty which increases the risk further. Now take into account that your heart can arrest from as little as 30ma if conditions are right, then consider we are talking about amps. Yeah yeah I know there are loads of environmental and conditional variables, but I would sooner not have sockets that my kids can poke small objects in with his wet hands... what if he finds a paperclip and pokes that In? It'll bypass the flaps at the right angle. I think I'll leave mine covered.