When it comes to securing your plug sockets, you have a few options. The first option is to get a cheap, rough – and – ready plug socket insert and put that in your socket. The second option is to go with Socketsafe.
Socket Inserts work exactly the way you’d imagine. They are inserts that go into the plug to prevent its’ use in totality. There are numerous issues with these. The 13A sockets used as standard in all British homes are designed with safety in mind. They are hard to make dangerous. Socket Inserts, however, achieve this in a number of ways, including but not limited to:
Socket contact damage – this results in overheating and can cause fires…
Socket shutter damage – this nullifies the safety that the shutters provide and make them dangerous to children.
Earth hole compromise – As most of these inserts are cheaply made, pins getting broken off into the socket is not an uncommon occurrence, which exposes live contacts.
If their dangerous nature isn’t enough to deter, the fact that they prevent the use of the socket itself surely makes them obsolete, especially when compared to the alternative…
…which is Socketsafe. It is true that Socketsafe shares the same intended purpose as Socket Inserts, that being to protect the socket from tampering. However, Socketsafe goes about achieving this in an altogether different way. It covers the socket as a whole, plugs inside, using a key lockable mechanism to do this, thereby safeguarding your sockets while allowing you use of them.
