Invisible wrote:

> 
> Not something you think about every day - until you realise that less 
> civilised countries just use a plain metal stick so it's frighteningly 
> easy to pull out of the wall, plug in backwards, electrocute yourself 
> with by touching the pins while inserting/removing, insert random 
> objects into the socket, etc.
> 

Heh, that's not a jab at the U.S. style plugs, is it? Our wall sockets 
are just the right size for a determined toddler armed with only a 
screwdriver to, err, well ... That's why we invented any number of 
different solutions to prevent determined toddlers armed with 
screwdrivers from sticking the end of the screwdriver in the appropriate 
slot and causing a simultaneous power and life failure. :)

So, can't a kid stick something metallic in a British design socket?

> I guess it's like you don't realise how stringent UK health and safety 
> rules are until you see some pictures on the TV of workers in some 
> random country using blowtorches and angle grinders without any safety 
> equipment at all...

I remember on a cruise to Mexico, they were working on fixing the pier, 
they had run out to their power tools, above the salty water, what 
looked like a pair of wires, twisted together at some points to extend 
it. OSHA would have had a field day with their utter lack of regard for 
basic electrical safety.

-- 
~Mike

Post a reply to this message