RIP: David Peacock FIET

I must confess I have several but they're mostly in my flex-come-in-handy box and I don't have toddlers.

I've managed to get rid of most of the bare wires poking out of the wall by now too.

Owain

Put some Wago connectors on the end to make them into a poor man's quicktest :-)

Perhaps why there is the habitual plug thumper.

Some figures for toddlers hurt or whatever by pushing something into a socket would be a start.

If it is a long flex - so suitable for a different use later - insulate the end. If a moulded plug is cut off leaving the flex, bin it instantly. As it is junk.

Unlikely that many of those would be reported to anyone.

One opinion is that as all UK sockets are required to be shuttered, they are pretty damned safe to push something into - unlike when dummy plugs are fitted and toddlers can pull them out, turn them 180° and re-insert the "earth" pin part way, leaving the live and neutral shutters wide open! We've probably all used a rotated plug in that way to open the shutters and plug a shaver in in an emergency.

I am pretty sure that MK sockets didn't (don't?) use the earth pin method and instead used a rotary shutter, operated directly by the ramps on it, by the neutral and live pins themselves.

SteveW

Do the regerlations allow that?

Yes.

I must admit that my memories of BS1363-2 are now sketchy, but I used to know it well, as my father sat on the committee revising it in the late '80s and I typed many of the changes and even suggested clearer wording for some sections.

SteveW

I presume so as that type of socket has been around for decades...

Handy for two pin Europlugs (if they are still around).

You can't do that on a compliant socket. Some cheap and nasty Chinese junk has a very narrow top that allows it, they are probably dangerous in many ways.

The old ones did, the new ones require the earth pin and the ramps to operate.

Only if you like sloppy fitting mains connections. You may as well use an ebay deathdapter.

You can buy leads with bare ends. Leaving them in the reach of children is not a good idea but if you are buying them you would know that?

Just because there was a problem with the moulding machine doesn?t mean that there is with the flex.

Having waded though many of the stats available I have found its very difficult to get any meaningful stats - especially on injuries from electrical accidents. Fatalities you can get a bit more of a handle on, but there are so few of them to tell you much. ISTR there were some stats on electrical injuries requiring hospital treatment (I have posted links in the past)

Indeed. In fact many of the modern designs need pressure from all three pins, with the right chamfer profiles etc to open the shutters these days.

Drop me an email, I may know where you could get a copy if required.

A reminder to everyone that Lancashire library service (they use a snail mail sign-up process) provides access to a decent selection of the BSOL documents ... although using an old Manchester library ID on the Lancashire page also works.