Posted By Jane Blunt In short, yes. The Electricity at Work Regs 1989, reg 5 'No electrical equipment shall be put into use where its strength and capability may be exceeded in such a way as may give rise to danger' In the guidance they do point out that the rated current may not represent the cut off point between safety and danger, but they do specifically recommend that equipment be used within the manufacturer's rating. Thus overloading sockets is a very bad idea (you may end up burning the building down if you are not careful). Jane

Posted By Alec Wood Daisy chaining is a problem because you are reliant for the safety earth on a series of conductors and connections, the failure of one could leave many appliances unprotected. The use of ganged sockets does seem to encourage a birds nest of wires to form behind the desk where the socket is normally dumped. Coiling, tangling and knotting of cables reduces there maximum current carrying capability as well as physically stressing the cables. Stressing cables may cause internal fracturing or thinning of the conductor cores and thus points of high resistance within the cable. These points may become hot-spots within the cables and they would be a potential fire risk. All that said, they are perfectly safe if used properly within their design paramters. If fitted with the correct fuse for the cable rating, tested at the appropriate intervals and inspected regularly before use then there is nothing inherently wrong with them. They have a harder life than your average appliance so would usually be tested more frequently. Alec Wood Samsung Electronics