ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades BS1363 Safety Blanks -- Useful or not?

I just supplied a bag of 20 of these safety blanks to somebody with a 1-year-old baby.



I started thinking though: BS1363 outlets are already shuttered. Older types require a pin or other object to be inserted into the earth contact and pressed down before the shutters on the line and neutral will open. Many newer types require equal pressure on the line and neutral shutters. (And there is now a new design on the market which requires simultaneously pressure at all three points to open.)

So with the shutters already found on all BS1363 sockets, just how much extra safety to these blanks really provide?

Do you think they actually make a big difference, or do they really just act more as a comfort device to parents?

Well, it keeps does help keep dirt and foreign objects (like pencil points broken off by curious youngsters) from getting jammed in the socket holes.

Kids will find a way to pull these blanks out of the wall anyway.

Absolutely useless !! My daughter learned how to pull these out before she could do anything else!! They then became something satisfying to chew/choke on

They are of no practical value at all as far as I'm concerned - I'm not a big believer in anything being pushed into sockets except the pins of a plug. The ones we had were freebies from the midwife and toddler group - neither of whom offer them anymore....

They don't make a lot of sense with shuttered outlets. They'd make a lot more sense in the USA or on older European sockets.

They do stop kids from plugging appliences in though. Which kinda makes some sense even with BS1363.


The only device that makes a LOT of sense is the VHS tape with a lock on the back to prevent your VCR being used as a post box!

My baby cousins put just about everything that would fit into the VCR.. including toast !

By the way wern't those twist and lock sockets, now used exclusively for POS systems, proposed as a child-safety device in the 1980s ? I seem to remember Ester Ranson doing some feature on them years ago.




[This message has been edited by djk (edited 11-11-2004).]

Well hell DJK - aint never seen those!!

I never was a fan of ER though!...

 
Shuttered receptacles are available on the North American continent, but are typically intended for use in medical pediatric-care areas—hence the NEC 517 reference in the description. www.hubbellcatalog.com/wiring/catalogpages/Page-I04.pdf or excerpted at www.6L6.net/localuser/bjarn/ecn.tamper-recept.pdf

My feelings are that these don't really offer that much protection. I figure that any toddler who can work out how to open the shutter mechanism isn't going to have much problem simply removing the blank first. At best they provide a reassurance to parents; at worst, I wonder whether somebody might fit these and then not be so careful about watching baby because they think he can't do anything to hurt himself.

I've heard stories of kids trying to insert peanut-butter & jelly sandwiches just to see what sort of picture they'd get!

The cross-linked contacts operated by a pin on the opposite side are an ingenious idea.

I've seen those in catalogs, but never actually come across any in use.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-12-2004).]

That cross-linked system seems excessively complicated I prefer shutters. Although, I do realise that they're easier to implement on UK and European outlets due to the size of the pins.

The shutter keeps everything out of the outlet, not just keeping it de-energised.

As for the twist and lock UK plugs you see them quite a lot in Irish supermarkets. They're normally used to connect cash registers, weighing scales and other point-of-sale equipment.

They don't look very different to a normal BS1363 plug when inserted as you only see the square back.

[This message has been edited by djk (edited 11-13-2004).]

Here in Austria there are two types of child-proof adaptors. One kind is inserted into the recessed Schuko socket and simply covers the holes. it can only be remove using a special key. Everybody used to have the covers, but never a key... even for a guy like me it's tough to remove them using two screwdrivers.
Then ther's the better spring.loaded type. You insert the plugh into the holes and either twist 90 degrees it or push it up/down until the holes in the cover meet the ones in the socket. It's a bit fiddly to insert a plug, but generally they work pretty well until the kids are grown up enough. Then the rubber o-rings wear out. With falt sockets any such type of cover seems pretty useless, either every toddler will be able to get it out or you won't be either, so you'll stop using them pretty soon.