I repeat on page 2 of the forum...

To return to the original post, the answer is that you shoulod not be advising your clients to use such devices.

Hi firstly, hands up I work in product safety rather than H&S but this forum is the most relevant one I have found and have an interest in many of the topics. With regard to standard UK sockets IMO there is virtually no risk and that these 'socket protectors' are simply preying on the fears of parents and those running nurseries etc. For product safety we work on a scenario process and assign probabilities to each step to establish the overall probability of the hazard. In this case the child would have to wedge a thin object (tapered at the end and not too flexible) into the earth pin with sufficient force to open the shutters (and even correctly shaped plug pins require a lot of force). The child then has to have a second thin object (conductive this time) and push this far enough into the live pin to make contact with the metalwork. The likelihood is already very remote without even considering the level of ensuing shock which would be dependent on the conductive path to earth or neutral - the reason why some earlier correspondents are still here to tell the tale. In a nursery it would be almost inconceivable that any child would have access to thin, rigid metallic objects and if they did then they would also have such a lack of supervision that they could then get a shock. Even in a domestic situation the probability level is minute. This view is supported by the data in the ANEC report (and don't forget ANEC are a pressure group ) where even with unshuttered sockets the level of accidents is comparable with falling out of restricted windows. Apart from the total lack of need for socket covers I also think that the supposed risk from fitting them upside down is also so low that we should expend our energies elsewhere and look at real problems

I have followed this thread from the start. As those regulars over here will know one of the few areas I tend to comment upon is electrical safety! I have not posted until now for a reason. Also even at this late stage I am not going to get into the debate. Suffice to say I used to use them, I looked into it and now don't. My comment is going to be only a single question in the end. These socket protectors are not made to any recognised standard. They are made abroad as I understand it. They are made from a polymer material. They are as I understand it made in a country that will print any standards you like onto equipment when it bears no resemblance to the requirements of that product standard (stillp?). As I understand it in that country people have put antifreeze into baby milk for their own population. Why would they worry about the quality of a product coming to the UK? Going on past records why would they care about whether the material they use is actually conductive or not?