Fatally Flawed - an E-Petition

[TonyS]

Many of you will have heard of the www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/ campaign. We have now taken things a step further with a parliamentary E-petition.

Please take the time to read and sign http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36699

 

[securespark]

Signed.

 

[RF Lighting]

I've signed, and posted the link on my social media networking thingy.

 

[JohnW2]

A question. Extension of the legislation, as requested, would obviously only be workable if it could refer to compliance with a Standard. Whilst BS 1363 presumably does deal satisfactorily with the matter of incorrectly sized pins, does it also cover the second part of what is mentioned in the petition (i.e. prevention of inappropriate shutter opening)?

Kind Regards, John.

 

[Lectrician]

I've signed, and posted the link on my social media networking thingy.

And which one would that be RF

 

[Steve]

Facetube.

 

[securespark]

Not Youbook?

 

[Spark123]

Twittler?

 

[JohnW2]

Does anyone know the answer to my previous question, namely:

A question. Extension of the legislation, as requested, would obviously only be workable if it could refer to compliance with a Standard. Whilst BS 1363 presumably does deal satisfactorily with the matter of incorrectly sized pins, does it also cover the second part of what is mentioned in the petition (i.e. prevention of inappropriate shutter opening)?

One obviously cannot expect government to create an electrical Standard within legislation - all we can ask them to do is to make it unlawful to sell products which do not comply with some existing Standard. If BS 1363 (or some other Standard) does not currently cover the second part of what we would be asking for (I don't know if it does - which is why I asked!), there would be no point in signing this current petition before (maybe via another petition!) we had got the Standard (or a new Standard) revised appropriately.

Kind Regards, John

 

[securespark]

Think TonyS is the best person to respond. I have not got, nor have seen, a copy of the relevant Standard.

 

[JohnW2]

Think TonyS is the best person to respond. I have not got, nor have seen, a copy of the relevant Standard.

Indeed - I was hoping he would respond, and maybe he will.
edit: ... and he doesn't accept messages from 'non-friends' so I can't even nudge him to respond

Kind Regards, John.

 

[ericmark]

In some countries there are strict laws about what can be sold and to whom. In Hong Kong I could not guy a two way radio for example without showing my licence.

However in the UK we can walk into a shop and buy an item which we can't use or fit ourselves without breaking the law.

It is getting tighter and buying fire arm stuff has followed the licence path but how can anyone stop people selling a bit of plastic?

When we buy a new appliance it has a plastic lump on the pins of the plug that we put straight in the bin. The same with little bit of paper that tells one how much to strip on the cable of a new plug.

It's not legislation but education that is required. Why anyone sticks bits of plastic into sockets I don't know. Likely they are cheaper than plugs and better than match sticks for holding wires in the hole.

So first one should ban match sticks.

 

[JohnW2]

In some countries there are strict laws about what can be sold and to whom. ...However in the UK we can walk into a shop and buy an item which we can't use or fit ourselves without breaking the law. ... It is getting tighter and buying fire arm stuff has followed the licence path but how can anyone stop people selling a bit of plastic?

Whilst I agree with some of the points you are making (particularly in relation to the need for education in relation to the safe use of legally purchased items), I think that what we are talking about here is very different.

As the petition says, it is already unlawful to sell a '13A' plug in the UK if it does not comply with BS 1363. However, that legislation is very narrow, and does not cover other things which may be plugged into a BS 1363 socket. It would make total sense to extend that legislation such as to outlaw the sale of items other than plugs which can be 'plugged in' which are consdiered to be unsafe - but, as I said, this can only be done if there are established Standards (like BS 1363) to dictate what is deemed to be 'safe'. Hence my question.

Kind Regards, John.

 

[ericmark]

Although I would agree they are clearly made to plug into a 13A socket they are not electrical and I can't see how one can differentiate between the match stick and and plastic lump. We have all seen the screwdriver being used to defeat the safety shutters be it to push in a probe for a meter or a pair of wires with no plug.

People will always do daft things and to make it illegal to attempt to comment suicide is now considered wrong. What we do is to try and remove the cause. I am sure if the Health and Safety executive sent out a warning that should anyone be injured due to the instructions given on the item packaging they will be held responsible then firms like Ikea would likely stop selling them.

Although I will agree they are dangerous so are many toys. But until some one is injured then it is hard to get anything done. I have unplugged these items and put in the bin and been challenged. I said point out to me the BS or EN BS or Kite mark and I will permit use otherwise in the bin they go.

The crime to me is the local authority demanding that any one with child care in their homes should fit these units. As a result people think these are good because some one in the government told them they were.

So it is up to the government to right the wrong by doing an advertisement saying sorry these should not be used.

Unfortunately the local authority make mistakes like this all too often. I had a local authority disabled persons instructor telling my mother to switch off her oven at the wall once she had finished. Clearly wrong as all the cooling fans then fail to work.

It seemed the instructor had only ever used gas and yet some one in the council had seen fit to send this uneducated person to do work she was completely untrained to do.

So I still think education is what is required not laws.

 

[JohnW2]

Although I would agree they are clearly made to plug into a 13A socket they are not electrical and I can't see how one can differentiate between the match stick and and plastic lump.

I presume that you are specifically talking about the plastic 'plug covers', but the petition relates to lots of other things (all of the rest of which are 'electrical') which can be plugged in - 'wallwarts' etc.

One might think that the 'non-electrical' device might be a bit of a problem for the legislation and/or Standards, but BS 1363 already covers 'insulated shutter opening devices' (on wallwarts etc.) - which are, in themselves, nothing more than your 'plastic lumps'. ... So, I have no reason to think that BS 1363 (or some other Standard) could not cover 'socket covers' ('plastic lumps') if they wanted to - but what I don't know is whether or not they do (and hence could be referred to by legislation).

Kind Regards, John