Casualty admissions of children suffering electrical shock injuries from power points remain alarmingly high and RCD breakers are not mandatory in existing homes. Concerned at the prospect of her child injuring himself, Cath went about looking for something to cover active power points. She looked everywhere and was amazed to find that there wasn’t anything on the market that solved this problem even Internet searches failed to find anything…anywhere.

74% of the accidents were caused by children less than five years of age.

Although earth leakage devices are being fitted to new and renovated homes since 1992, it is acknowledged by the Office of the Chief Electrical Inspector that it will be many years before ALL homes and workplaces are protected.

It is a misconception too that having an earth leakage device eliminates all possibility of electrical injury when it only reduces the intensity of the shock. To a young child even a minor shock may cause serious injury, at the very least, distress for parent and child.

Statistics on electrocutions from power points of 0 to 9 year olds obtained from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) (click here for stats), which is a record of emergency department presentations at 28 Victorian public hospitals, don’t show a fall in the number of accidents. Over 70% of accidents are in the age group 0 to 5 years of age. Fingers, keys, and other objects have found there way into the power point and resulted in trips to the hospital.

The records obtained did not include examination by general practitioners or infant welfare centers, which would indicate that the actual number of incidences of electrical shock would be substantially higher.

The product design also considered safety during installation. The Power Point Safety Cover may be installed without any disturbance to the power outlet using the adhesive strips.

In Australia on average 200,000 children are taken to hospital or emergency centers each year from accidents caused in and around the home. A lot of these could be prevented by installing relevant child safety devices. (stats from Kidsafe)