child proof recepts being required!?

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I still say this is a parental issue, not a code issue. Look at all of the other items that are injuring children today... bicycles, skate boards, skis, swimming pools, swingsets and the list goes on. Parents need to be parents and the code needs to be the code.

Once a code of this type gets into the NEC, what is to stop other similar codes??? what othe ideas will pop into someones head? There has to be a limit and I think we need to start that limit now!!!

I have children and one day will have grandchildren. I believe I was/am a good parent... I watched my children.

Bryan, I have a lot of respect for you and the knowledge you lend here, yet I disagree with you on this one.

By the way: statistics can always be skewed to look like whatever someone wants them to look like.
 
I spent 10 bucks on those little receptacle inserts for my house, if you can't afford them then the govt will probably start handing them out! They should require landlords to install them if they are truely trying to protect children IMHO.

Tom
 
Davis9 said:
I spent 10 bucks on those little receptacle inserts for my house, if you can't afford them then the govt will probably start handing them out! They should require landlords to install them if they are truely trying to protect children IMHO.

Tom
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I think the problem with those is that they can be a choking hazard, although the ones I bought I hate because honestly I cannot remove them.... :smile:
 
stickboy1375 said:
I think the problem with those is that they can be a choking hazard, although the ones I bought I hate because honestly I cannot remove them.... :smile:
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Good one, I can't get mine out either, altough if you use the blade of the cord end....

Tom
 
If you read the substaniation posted, some of those inserts don't work all that well, plus, if something is plugged in, all that a child has to do is pull the cord out. I don't see how a parent can watch a child (or children) every second all day and all night. I am still not sure about requireing this for all dwellings though. Maybe pushing this as a recomendation when child-proofing a house, but I am not sure it belongs in the NEC
 
The info shows four deaths in 10 years.

The CPSC numbers show that in that same time period 1,500 children died from falls in the home.

Many of these falls where down stairs.

Should every home be forced to have auto closing doors at the top and bottom of stairs?

I am a parent of a 6 and 8 year old and the thought of them getting burned, shocked, killed does bother me to the core.

But their well being is my responsibility not the CMPs.

I actually killed the power to many of the bedroom outlets while they where younger, the ones I left on we bought child guards that look like 'bubble covers'.
 
I agree with Pierre, this is going just a little too far. If you really wanted to make an impact on saving lives then try banning swimming pools. Thousands of people accidentally drown in backyard pools every year.
 
If you look at the substaniation given, 2 of the top 5 injuries from receptacles are blatently fishy: If a kid can stick a "body part (finger)" in a receptacle, the receptacle is probably damaged so much that IT is the safety issue; not the child's actions. Another top 5 cause was plugging or unplugging a cord into the receptacle. Well, hell, there's the problem!: we need to hard wire everything in the home. Then the fear of extention cords will also be eliminated. Maybe we should require arc flash protection suits for the operators of household appliace cord sets. Look for my proposal, just as soon as I start a company to sell arc flash protection suitable for residential cord set use.

Here I come big money!!!
 
We just need smart plugs and recetpacles...each plug has an RFID chip and the recp doesn't turn the power on until the plug with the chip is fully inserted in the receptaacle. Also the plug chip would report the maximum permitted current for the cord connected device and the receptacle would open the circuit if the current was exceeded.
Don
 
I'm going to install child proof receptacles in my home some day. Why?

Because I got a really great deal on them at HD.

There was a kit from P&S that had 4 885 TR decorator tamper resistant receptacles, one TR night light/receptacle combo, and 5 wall plates. They were closing them out for $10 a kit. Just one P&S TR 885 receptacle costs $5 wholesale. I think the price was right ;) so I bought every one they had.
 
My question...
If there is such a dire need for these items, what about the gazillion receptacles in existing homes??????

I guess anyone with children who live in existing homes don't count. So the next time they do the head count, are they going to include existing homes or just the new ones?
 
georgestolz said:
Don, that sounds like a low cost, easily implementable plan... :D
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I don't doubt that someone may try it. ;)

Which reminds me, what ever happened to Lutron's proprietary dimming receptacle system?
 
iwire said:
the ones I left on we bought child guards that look like 'bubble covers'.
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We did the same throughout our house. I thought the screw-in covers with the cord hole was probably a better solution than plugging the empty sockets.
 
I'm sure the happily-childless couple building their million-dollar dream home that they've been saving for their whole lives are going to be thrilled that they have to install tamper-resistant receptacles in their home said:
thats right and they will have to have a pool fence too!
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peter d said:
I don't doubt that someone may try it. ;)

Which reminds me, what ever happened to Lutron's proprietary dimming receptacle system?
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I'm inspecting two 16 story condo's with at least one in every unit. At least I think it's Lutron. At any rate the recep has a tab that sticks out between the parallel slots so you cannot insert a regular cord cap.
 
iwire said:
Levitons version is not hospital grade it uses sliding shutters.
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Bob, I just noticed this thread. We just finished a pre-K school that had 335 tamper resistant receptacles in it. I think the part # was Leviton #8300SGW. We used these because the quote was cheaper along with the 180 spec grade, the 250 GFCI and the 255 isolated ground receptacles. I don't really know what each device cost because it was a total lot. I am going to guess the tampers were $7.50 each.

Now that we have these installed what is the first thing the teachers do? Plug in those little plastic child plates and they break off and get stuck in the device. The school administrator had a staff meeting to inform every teacher not to install these plastic thingies in the devices.

The engineer also had several isolated ground circuits in the building but then in the specs had for us to install tamper receptacles on these circuits. I informed him that they did not make a device that was an iso and tamper. He picked the tampers.

The devices seemed ok to install, I kind of refer Hubbell myself but they tend to be pricey. In this area it does not matter what the name is because we know on the back side of the box, in this area it says " Heche in Mexico" Why is it they make all these neat little electrical parts down there but when you walk down they streets you never see any installed?
 
My Negative Comments on this subject.

My Negative Comments on this subject.

As a member of Code Panel 18 I was against this proposal. For the ROC, my negative vote comment is below:

Comment 18-27 Log #266 Section 406.11 Proposal 18-40
Negative Vote with Comment:
Although presented to the panel as a safety issue this is not a safety issue, it is not an economical issue, it is a responsibility issue and it is not good Code. This blanket requirement to install tamper resistant receptacles in all dwelling unit locations is a blatant example of creeping socialism and rampant big-brotherism. It is time for us as a nation to accept our responsibilities and protect our own children. It
should not be the position of the NFPA, the government, or the local police to force our responsibilities upon us. If our kids are uninformed enough to stick something in
a receptacle and not learn the first time then it is our responsibility as parents to buy some covers. If the kid is smart enough and has enough manual dexterity to be able to defeat the covers then it is time to start his college fund. But requiring the installation of all new receptacles to be tamper resistant is not necessary or prudent. What is the next step? Childproof barriers along all streets and roads? Surgically installed water wings?
Whenever we are presented with any subject that concerns ?the children? the ability to keep eyes dry and analyze data rationally immediately leaves the room. This inability to make intelligent decisions has been enhanced in this instance with dubious data presented with introductory terms like, ?probability sample? and ?estimated?. As soon as we are presented with this type of undata, without any technical substantiation, it is time for all good men and women to look for underlying reasons. Compound this with photos presented to the panel of severely burned children that have no connection to the discussion. A child that chews on an extension cord has no relationship to an unsupervised kid with a hair pin in his hand that is allowed to be in a location with receptacles.
It is ridiculous and ludicrous that grown people should spend as much time, effort, and money on a subject that is best left to the individual parent. All that it takes is a short trip to the local home improvement store to see an entire section that is devoted to child protection, including many items not electrically related such as drawer hardware and cabinet latches. Not only are there the common plastic receptacle covers, there are complete covers that provide protection with and without cord caps installed. Also, there are receptacle covers with the sliding protection that a tamper resistant receptacle would provide. And all of these inexpensive devices can be easily installed by the homeowner. If the parents feel that these could be defeated by their budding Phi Bata Kappa, then an electrician could be hired to install some tamper resistant receptacles. But to saddle the entire country with and mandate that all new dwelling units would be required to have tamper resistant receptacles is severe overkill and without justification.
On the concern for the elderly being able to use these tamper resistant receptacles I did not think that this was a true issue until I tried to insert a cord cap into the sample that was available during the panel meeting. At over 250 pounds I have always felt I was pretty strong, but I could not push the cord into the sample provided. I am truly concerned as to how my 115 pound, 86 year old Mother would be able to handle plugging in her oxygen pump!
 
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