Hmm, same here now. :?
Well, imagine a duplex mounted horizontally.
I have seen horizontally mounted receptacles. It's likely less than one percent, though. Also, the lion's share (that I have seen) are two prong in old, old homes mounted in the mop boards.
You are correct, since the NFPA is concerned with safety, this is a design issue and will remain one until someone gets hurt or killed. This was not a likely scenario until health care facilities started using receptacle mounted devices for crucial services.
Should the inability to operate a receptacle mounted device in a health care facility cause a death, and that death gets sufficient media coverage, I would like to think that this once taboo and un-discussable subject makes it's way into the NEC or the UL.
These little APC UPS's have the ability to wipe out a node should they fail. Since they also have buttons to push, failure may be induced by pushing the wrong button at the wrong time. If that node was actively carrying packets of info when it was dropped, those packets may not make their destination, or worse, make it with corrupted packets. Since nodes are just fancy repeaters, it is possible that corrupted information gets spread from node to node and may end up at the server station. The system carries all the info for all the facilities in our area. A few years ago every hospital, P.C. and clinic was bought out by a single hospital and now a single data system handles the data for everyone. Failure of that system would be catastrophic.
I think APC's designers need to be slapped hard for not offering the proper orientation for use in health care facilities. Next would be the guy that sold them to the hospitals.
I bit my tongue when I first noticed that my little plug in tester couldn't be read upside down. No problem, just use an extension cord.
But there are receptacle mounted surge suppressors made by Belkin that mount only one way, and that makes it impossible to correct with a cord. You just have to put up with the fact that the writing is upside down. Not a big deal, since there are only two words, one for each light, and the lights are different colors.
Then, I got the Kil-a-watt. That has buttons and a display, but can be used with a cord to make everything readable. So, still, no biggie.
Then, last Thursday, I saw the little UPS, upside down and not readable, used as back up power for a crucial system. For me, that was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. Now we go from conjecture and preference to a very real potential hazard.
I, for one, am not going to wait until the horse gets out of the barn. That is why I pointed this out to my doctor, posted here and am planning on discussing this with my sister and the safety manager of the hospital (he is a ham and I know him).
At least if nothing gets done I can say I tried. I can also hope that I have brought forth an awareness to our trade, via this site, that may prove in some small manner to be helpful.
Is there a fix? Sure, I would say that if a device is not operable due to receptacle orientation, it should not be UL approved. Especially for use in health care facilities.