As we’ve already discussed in our blog, here at Hello Baby we do not sell socket covers as we think they may present risks (see The Hazard of Socket Safety Covers).
Here is an update on the subject by Which?, a website offering independent consumer advice through their experts independently testing and rating products (Which.co.uk ).
24 September 2009
Which? believes plug socket covers designed to stop children putting their fingers in electrical wall sockets may be a waste of money.
Which? tests showed that, in a worst case scenario, some could actually increase the risk of your child being electrocuted.
Plug covers are designed to prevent children from accessing a plug socket’s live terminals. But all British plug sockets, by law, have safety shutters that do this. And in tough Which? safety tests on 12 brands of socket covers found that some may be too easy to remove, even for a child.
Child safety plug covers
If a young child removes a cover, it’s possible that they could replace it upside down, opening the socket’s safety shutters and allowing access to the live terminals.
If you do want to use covers, choose one of the four brands that our tests revealed were extremely difficult to remove -although our expert thought a child could prise them off by poking something under the holes in the design. The others could be removed with varying degrees of difficulty. Our child safety expert found the Upsy Daisy covers easiest to remove – they were quite loose with easy-to-grip edges.
