The latest PC Magazine includes an article on touring with toddlers, which includes the advice to use domestic socket covers on three pin mains sockets: Parents should know that the latest advice from the electrical trade and the safety profession is that these devices should NOT be used either in the caravan or at home.
Domestic 3-pin sockets are manufactured to BS1363: If you have a look into the socket holes (without unscrewing anything!) you'll see there are already two shutters inside the live and neutral parts, and a lever inside the earth part. Inserting something (such as the earth pin of the three pin plug) opens the shutters on the other two parts, and is the only way to open these shutters - it's one of the reasons the earth pin is lionger than the other two, so it can open the shutters before the L/N pins get into the socket.
So the dangerous parts of the socket are already protected, and the socket covers, at best, do not add to the safety. I know some people say that because they're hard to pull out, they stop the smallest children getting anything into the socket, but any child smart enough to work out how to defeat the existing safety device is going to be able to remove a socket cover!
It's actually worse than that - because the socket covers are not manufactured to any design specification, many of them are made to very loose tolerances and can damage the connections inside the socket, potentially leading to poor connection when you put a proper plug in, leading to arcing, overheating and in the worst case, fire.
There is an unusually balanced view, by the standards of internet campaign websites, at http://www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/ .
Paul Duell - Health and Safety Professional when not caravanning (and even when I am!)
Domestic 3-pin sockets are manufactured to BS1363: If you have a look into the socket holes (without unscrewing anything!) you'll see there are already two shutters inside the live and neutral parts, and a lever inside the earth part. Inserting something (such as the earth pin of the three pin plug) opens the shutters on the other two parts, and is the only way to open these shutters - it's one of the reasons the earth pin is lionger than the other two, so it can open the shutters before the L/N pins get into the socket.
So the dangerous parts of the socket are already protected, and the socket covers, at best, do not add to the safety. I know some people say that because they're hard to pull out, they stop the smallest children getting anything into the socket, but any child smart enough to work out how to defeat the existing safety device is going to be able to remove a socket cover!
It's actually worse than that - because the socket covers are not manufactured to any design specification, many of them are made to very loose tolerances and can damage the connections inside the socket, potentially leading to poor connection when you put a proper plug in, leading to arcing, overheating and in the worst case, fire.
There is an unusually balanced view, by the standards of internet campaign websites, at http://www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/ .
Paul Duell - Health and Safety Professional when not caravanning (and even when I am!)
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