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If you put a screwdriver into the earth socket it will open the shutters on the live and neutral terminals - THEREFORE ALL SCREWDRIVERS SHOULD BE BANNED! NOW!
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I'm an optoholic - my glass is always half full of vodka.
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I also have these in many areas as a hangover from when nippers where smaller.
Yes the shutters are there, but you can still shove things in the earth hole. The plain plastic covers (like the one at the top) are also generally tight enough that a youngers hasn't got the finger strength to remove them.
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Not according to the report.
It seems children as young as five months can get them off.
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Obscurum per obscurius.
Ad astra per alas porci.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur .
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as an aside I used to have open my grandmothers heart medication (Nitro I think Heh, Heh!!!) as she couldn't beat the child proof cap, child proof is really just for parents 
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DaveAuld wrote: are also generally tight enough that a youngers hasn't got the finger strength to remove them.
My kids must be exceptionally strong then, both of them can get them out when they wish...
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Depends how small they are, the quality of the sockets and how new the covers are, and how many times they have been removed/re-inserted.
My kids never really went near the plugs, a couple of stern warnings and they listened.
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My daughter was pulling them out as soon as she could crawl so about 7 or 8 months... although both her and her brother have lost interest in them now...
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Perhaps if you use US/EU type sockets, those covers are flawed since they provide they child with something that actually fits in the earth pin.
But our sockets[^] have large round pins and a much larger array of items will fit in the earth pin, so keeping it covered in our scenario is probably still better.
EDIT: Ironically I chose an image of a socket with no safety mechanism. 
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Safest[^]
From the British Standards Institute 1363 standard it is regarded as the safest in the world.
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Obscurum per obscurius.
Ad astra per alas porci.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur .
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The article explicitly stated it's only written to UK style sockets.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Newer sockets don't use the earth pin to open a shutter, there is now a shutter with a cam-like action covering the live and neutral positions, the shutter will only open if pins are inserted in the live and neutral together.
Much safer.
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Is that a new British Standard or are you talking about US sockets?
---------------------------------
Obscurum per obscurius.
Ad astra per alas porci.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur .
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I have seen them somewhere, I think, but I may have imagined the whole thing.
Perhaps I should get busy and design them now, make my million and retire.
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5 for a money-making imagination 
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Ah well I think that its best that I switch the computer off and go home.
When at home I will sit in a darkened corner rocking back and forth gently.
Every day, thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians.
Help end the violence EAT BACON
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I've used those devices for more years than I care to remember to protect more kids than I care to admit to.
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That's just a case of someone who thinks they know best spouting off on the web.
I use these things, and once they're in its very hard to get them out again. If you don't put them in and leave them lying around then yes, they can like pretty much anything be used to open the shutters on the live/neutral when inserted into the earth.
I was the sort of kid who did insert screwdrivers into sockets and ended up in A&E on a regular basis through doing so. That would have been hard to do if things were already wedged in the socket.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Speaking as a former kid of the same persuasion, harder but not impossible!
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I'm confused at what it is we're supposed to be tutting at. That people leave the covers lying around for kids to poke in, or that people are having a go at safety equipment.
The problem with the sockets isn't sticking your fingers in, the problem is cutlery etc. When we were kids, my cousin quickly learned he could open the shutters by poking in a teaspoon handle. Naturally, he became fascinated by this, and it was only a short (pun intended) step to poking another teaspoon handle into live. His parents fitted the covers PDQ.
As for British sockets being the safest (in the linked site): bunkum. while in Jordan I was exposed to pretty much every standard: US/Fanco-Italian and German. The German system (without shutters) was too small to accomodate anything other than a metal wire/ rod, on a side note they are recessed so you never have the metal pin exposed while it is in the hole. I'd say it was on a par with the UK one. If it had shutters (and an on/off switch - though this could be just the one I saw) it would have been hands-down safer than the UK.
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US sockets are different, normally without the safety latch. My daughter had sockets with safety latches installed after Hurricane Sandy (during rebuild) - somewhat of a pain.
The socket covers we used for our 'little darlings' had only to prongs - the ground wasn't included (it's not necessary to protect someone from ground, is it?). They served their purpose so long as they were unable to remove them. That's the point that circumvents the article's logic: the kids are anything like mine, as soon as possible they become toys to plug and unplug. That's the time to remove them.
Using the ground to open them wouldn't be useful (at least in US) - as many items have evolved from three-prong (with ground) to polarized plug (using the common as ground and wired internally so that they're safe [allegedly]). Anywho, using the ground-prong as the flap-opener wouldn't work out.
Implicitly repeating myself, when the kids can take the plug caps out it's a strong hint not of a defect but that it's time to stop using them.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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christ, ya bunch of pommy pooftahs!
in aus we just have bare wires sticking out the wall, twisted together with whatever is 'plugged' in, and covered in gaffa tape.
what stops kids getting electrocuted? Natural flamin' selection, mate.
MVVM # - I did it My Way
___________________________________________
Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011
.\\axxx
(That's an 'M')
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A guy at one of the houses I drive by daily has recently erected this thing[^]. I tried Googling what it's for and I'm now considering stopping by one day and just ask.
I don't know much about radio communication (other than what I've learned from being part of a WUG[^]), but this antenna looks like it works with very low frequencies, I don't understand why it's pointing straight up though.
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