PlugSafe  Protecting BS 1363 - the world’s safest mains plug and socket

As the photograph above shows, there are no shutters fitted to this adaptor, so there is nothing to prevent a child poking a metallic object into a live contact.  That is not acceptable in the UK and many other countries.  However, the issue which caused this particular adaptor type to be banned throughout Europe was the fact that a plug can be inserted in such a way that one of the pins is left hanging out, in a situation like this it is possible to get a fatal electric shock by touching the pin which is left exposed, as current can flow through the appliance and into the person touching the pin.  We show this using a Europlug in the picture on the right.  It was the authorities in The Netherlands who took action on this in 2007, as can be seen from this RAPEX report.  The withdrawal was also reported in the press at the time in an article describing Belkin’s recall and reimbursement program.

Despite having been recalled in 2007, as of 1st August 2017 there was still a listing on Amazon.co.uk which was first added in 2010, three years after the recall!  The test purchase we did was from an eBay.co.uk listing in 2014.  These are yet further demonstrations of online marketplaces selling illegal items! 

There are even more problems with this adaptor as shown below.

In common with many other “universal travel adaptors” the socket arrangements take the form of a universal socket designed to accept UK pins, Europlug and Schuko pins, US pins and Australia/NZ pins. 
In all cases there is no provision to connect earth.

Standards for travel adaptors require that it be not possible to insert the earth pin of a plug into a current carrying contact of the socket part of an adaptor.  The way that this adaptor is constructed means that it is actually very easy to insert the earthing pin of either a UK plug or an American plug into the current carrying contacts, as is demonstrated here.  If this were done with an appliance with an earthed case, then the whole case would become live!

Apart from the Europlug pins shown at the top of this page, the only other pins provided are US pins, as shown left. 

The US pins are provided with the ability to rotate so that they fit into an Australian socket, however Australia and New Zealand require that all plug pins are partially insulated, so the adaptor was not legal there either!