A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.com/
this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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The safest ones (design-wise) would be the ones that are inset, like types C, E, F, H, J, and K. If there is ever a chance a plug is partially pulled out or not fully inserted, the socket being inset wouldn't allow anything to touch any of the contacts.
Fuses in plugs and the orientation are relatively irrelevant to the plug style and are more a convention choice, if not regulatory requirement.
The British plug serves the same point as an inset because there's a bit of non-conductive material on the plug itself that goes into the wall. If it's not fully inserted then the only thing showing is the non-conductive material.
It also has the thickest metal on the plug as far as I know. It's probably the only thing that the British have ever engineered better than the Germans.
Doesn't G have an insulated portion so live conductor is never exposed?
Yes G, the UK one, is generally regarded as the safest.
This showcase also doesn't show that UK sockets have flaps come down on the interior of the socket, so unless the longer and shielded earth pin is pushed in first, the flaps exposing live and neutral won't raise.
My mum discovered this firsthand when I was a silly child who tried poking stuff in the plug socket
Type N (Brazil's plug) in the image is also inset.
Type I (in Australia, at least) plugs are partially insulated with in order to prevent that from being an issue.
We are the descendants of the UK after all, our nanny-state is almost as strong as the motherland’s!