Tamper resistant receptacles...

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chevyx92

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Is there really a need for this new code article? I mean have there been many accidents to warrant this requirement or are they just trying to be more safety conscious. Not that I have a problem with the requirement just curious as to what brought this on. Another is the weather resistant receptacles, I mean come on. Thats just another product we have to spend money on when GFI's or GFI protected receptacles have been the thing for decades.
 
chevyx92 said:
Is there really a need for this new code article? I mean have there been many accidents to warrant this requirement
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If I recall the substantiation showed about 2400 hospital visits a year from receptacle shocks to young children.
 
chevyx92 said:
If that is true, I wonder why it has taken this long to implement this change.
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There is a large amount of people who are against it, I was as well untill I read the statistics.


The entire substantiation for this change was posted in another thread

Here are a few selected high lights.

During a 10-year period, from 1991 to 2001 , over 24,000 children in the United States were injured when they inserted foreign objects into electrical receptacles. Every year an average of at least 2,400 children are injured when tampering with electrical receptacles.

The vast majority of injured children are under age 6. Victims age 2 and under represent 39% of cases, while those age 3 to 6 represent 50% of all cases.


The incidents occurred as the result of the child inserting an object into a receptacle. The following is a breakdown of the percent of incidents in which a child inserted a specific type of object into a receptacle:

Hairpin 32%

Key 17%

Body part(finger) 12%

Plug and cord 11 %

Wire 7%

Unknown 6%

Pin/needle/screw/nail 5%

Paper clip/staple 5%

Tweezers/fie/tool/knife 3%

Jewelry/belt buckle 1%

Open outlet 1%

Many of these objects are not perceived as dangerous by parents, perhaps explaining young childrens easy access to them and frequent rate of insertion.


The results of these incidents are very rarely fatal, but will result in electric shocks and mild to severe burns.

Most incidents are relatively superficial first or second-degree burns, where children are treated for reddened skin or blisters and released from the Emergency Room with topical treatment. Yet 8.7% - that is over 200 children per year - need to be hospitalized.

2% of all burns are 3 degree. These are burns so severe that they result in deeply charred skin and can require a skin graft if the burn is over 1 inch in size.

A study conducted by Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) reported similar data. For example: almost 80% of the Canadian incidents occurred in the home (compared with 71% in the US), 40% were 3-6 years of age (compared with 50% in the US).

Should the NEC ignore 2,400 electrical injuries each year?

Keep in mind that the statistics only include those incidents that resulted in a hospital visit, without a doubt the actual number of children getting shocks is much higher then that.

I will add this from the report.

It is important to note that the NEISS report also includes the following four fatalities:

1991 - 2 year old male, Shawnee, OK, child placed key in electric receptacle

1994 - 23 month old male, Traverse City, MI , child stuck keys in electric receptacle

1995 - 3 year old female, Great Falls, MT, contact with electric receptacle , cardio respiratory arrest

1998 - 2 year old female, Springfield, MO, stuck unknown object into 110V receptacle
 
But how many of these children climbed up on the kitchen counter and got hit?
I can see installing them throughout the home everywhere but the kitchen counter recepticles
 
I was thinking more along the lines of rental units where rent payment is more of a concern than overall maintenace of systems.
 
iwire said:
Should the NEC ignore 2,400 electrical injuries each year?
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No, and not to be ignorant or anything but I bet there are a lot of accidental drownings every year in a bath tub or similar location. I haven't seen a bath tub change, have you? All I'm saying is kids sticking things in outlets or kids drowning all comes down to one problem......The Parents...not watching and protecting their kids. I mean if they can make these receptacles mandatory then so be it, it will help, I'm sure. I just think we (the industry) is compensating for what the parents should be doing.
 
celtic said:
I was thinking more along the lines of rental units where rent payment is more of a concern than overall maintenace of systems.
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I'm not sure how you could fail to maintain a duplex receptacle in a manner that would compel a kid to stick something in the slot.
 
Tori said:
But how many of these children climbed up on the kitchen counter and got hit?
I can see installing them throughout the home everywhere but the kitchen counter receptacles
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This is just a personal opinion but the code should try to be easy to understand and enforce. It is much easier to just say all dwelling unit receptacles then to write an code section with yes here, here and here but not here, and here.

I will not be surprised at all if all 120 volt 15 and 20 amp receptacles will be required everywhere in the next code cycle.
 
mdshunk said:
I'm not sure how you could fail to maintain a duplex receptacle in a manner that would compel a kid to stick something in the slot.
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I'm not sure how a kid stick a finger in a receptacle....

Body part(finger) 12%

:-?
 
chevyx92 said:
I bet there are a lot of accidental drownings every year in a bath tub or similar location. I haven't seen a bath tub change, have you?
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No, but do you have such a low tech, cheap and already on the shelf solution to the tub problem?

Does the NFPA have any control over tub design?


The Parents...not watching and protecting their kids.
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I am sure there is some truth to that.

But out of 2400 reported accidents a year I would be willing to bet many of them happened to children with careful and caring parents.
 
iwire said:
But out of 2400 reported accidents a year I would be willing to bet many of them happened to children with careful and caring parents.
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Are you serious? Caring maybe but careful? Careful is not the word when that happens to their child. If so then they were not careful enough. JMO.
 
iwire said:
I will not be surprised at all if all 120 volt 15 and 20 amp receptacles will be required everywhere in the next code cycle.
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Don't forget cord caps and plug strips.
 
and all furniture should be made of Nurf so kids can't run into things and get hurt, and all windows should be nailed closed so kids can't open them and fall out, stairs will hence forth be outlawed because of the number of falls resulting in injury, snow and ice will no longer be allowed to occur because it is slippery and causes falls...........PARENTAL RESPONSABILITY!
 
Reminds me of an old cartoon:

OSHACowboy.jpg
 
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