When there is a crawling or walking with little steps baby at home, the parents and other elders need to be much more careful regarding their safety as they put their little fingers into anything that seems to be interesting to them. Therefore, it is the duty of the guardians to replace all their electrical outlets, cords and plugs by an expert electrician to avoid any accident.
TYPES OF CHILDPROOF OUTLETS AND OTHER ELECTRICAL MECHANISMS
TAMPER-PROOF OUTLETS– The slots of these outlets are covered with plastic shutters, which prevent anyone from touching or poking anything into them directly. These shutters are attached to springs, so that the outlets can be opened, only after pushing these shutters aside, while using the outlets for switching on any electrical appliance. There are two types of outlets, namely Standard outlet and Decora outlet; which vary on the basis of how the outlet cover is attached to the receptacle. The Decora outlet is made to be more childproof, with specially fitted plastic covers over it.
ELECTRICAL OUTLET CAPS – If the child is a bit grownup, he/she may even manage to push open the tamper-proof outlets, which can be prevented by installing these plastic flat caps or plug covers, so that the child cannot hold and pull them out. Generally, these covers are sold in bulks, so that the exact number of covers can be bought for securing each and every electrical outlet or plug of the house.
OUTLET PLUGS – Some caps can be in the form of plastic plugs that can just be fitted inside the outlets and the front parts of these caps are unfriendly for the toddlers to pull out. These plastic caps are widely used in the households, due to its cheap price. Moreover, you should call an electrician for installing them. These cover plugs should be white and not in any other color, to avoid the attraction of the child. Also, these covers should be large enough, so that it cannot be griped by the little hands of the child.
PLASTIC SLIDING COVERS OF THE SWITCHBOARDS – The plastic electrical plate covers can be slid over the electric boards that are attached with springs, to prevent any child to reach the outlets and cause accident. This cover can just be pushed aside and the appliances can be plugged to the outlets. After the use of the appliance, the cover automatically sets over the board, as soon as the appliance is taken out of them.
BOX COVERS OF THE ELECTRICAL BOARDS – When the large electrical outlets can be covered with colorless plastic covers, these outlets will seem to be invisible to the kids. Moreover, these box covers are locked with special lock system, so that the toddler cannot pull them out, even if he/she can spot it on the wall, mainly if it is near the ground level.
POWER STRIP COVERS – It may be a bit difficult to cover the power strips, which are needed to run multiple electrical appliances at one time. The plastic shields are used to cover these strips, by sticking over them. Moreover, the unused holes seen on the strip covers for passing the cables need to be covered with a tape, so that the child cannot put the fingers through them.
There are also various other outlet covers available to prevent the children from pulling off the electrical cords and touch the outlets. The cords should be kept as short as possible, so that the child does not get a chance to play with excess long cords.
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