A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.com/
this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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The British plug has a lot of features that are supposed to make it very, very safe. It'd be interesting to see if there's a study out there that tries to make apples-to-apples comparisons of electrical accidents in different countries. Do those features actually work out in practice?
The US plug is bad, but does that actually translate into more accidents? Hard to say. If you can do the study above, then you can start making the argument for switching to something else.
I'm sure most plugs have identical features.
No, not even close.
https://youtu.be/UEfP1OKKz_Q
Well, the amount of differences isn't really that huge. Unlike told in the video, if you pull the continental European plug out enough to be able to touch the pins, it's no longer connected. That safety feature exists in plugs of type J, F, E, K, and, I think, L. Plus, I'd guess N.
Also the slack in ground should exist in all sockets with grounding, as well. (I have never checked if they really do, though...)
So, the only real safety differences are:
While it is indeed a bit difficult for a child to insert a pencil or similar into the plugs of type C-contemporary, because there are usually kind of covers that require some strength to push through, the feature where the ground pin pushes the other holes open is a much better solution
The fuse can save you in case that there's a short-circuit that causes the appliance itself to catch fire without tripping the central fuse. The British standards enables each appliance to have a fuse only as big as the maximum that appliance might ever need in normal operation, so that if it ever tries using more current than designed, the fuse will blow and a danger gets averted.
This means: one of the listed safety features is partially implemented, another one can save you from a fire in a fringe case, and the rest of the features exist at least in types E, F and K.
Type K, BTW would allow for the same kind of shutters for the live holes as in the type G plug in the video. I wonder if that's implemented? I hope it is!
Modern installations are supposed to have overcurrent and ground fault protection on all branches, so the fuse is somewhat useless and you have an extra protection against electrocution.
Most European receptacles only accept a plug if both prongs are pressed in at the same time, so children can't get electrocuted without being exceptionally clever