Does this plug meet UK regulations?

[Laurence Harvey]

Does this plug meet UK regulations?

The earth pin is partially insulated,...is that legal?

As ever, all replies gratefully received.

 

[JohnD]

No and no.

Do you think it is fused?

 

[JohnD]

http://bs1363.fatallyflawed.org.uk/

 

[AndyPRK]

No fuse
And probably not wide enough

 

[plugwash]

I strongly suspect that if you cut the lead you will also find the CSA of the flex is far lower than it should be.

 

[Laurence Harvey]

I knew it was dodgy but I wanted your expert comments and observations;...many thanks, much appreciated.

 

[Robin0577]

Absolutely agree with the above, that fails to comply for at least 3 reasons, probably more.

Whoever supplied that to you should be reported to Trading Standards. Chances are nothing can/will be done, especially if it was Amazon/Ebay/Alibaba, etc. but hopefully the weight of many more complaints will eventually tip the scales in the right direction.

 

[crystal ball]

See these on cheap hand driers, one of my customers insists on buying

 

[Robin0577]

See these on cheap hand driers, one of my customers insists on buying

Question is, where is the customer buying them from? If they are being sold in the UK, that's straight up illegal and the seller/importer can be prosecuted. If your customer is buying direct from China, that's much more difficult, and in fact your customer may technically be breaking the law by importing them. If there's a third party "sales platform" involved like Amazon Marketplace, Ebay, etc. you can expect a lot of buck-passing and denial of responsibility.

If I see an appliance with a plug/cable like that, I'm always inclined to question the safety of the rest of it. Only yesterday I refused to install a light fitting that a customer bought from China via Amazon because I could be found guilty of negligence for installing it, knowing that it doesn't meet UK safety standards. Admittedly in this case, it was very obvious that the thing was dangerous and even the customer could see why when I pointed it out.


Edit to add: I'd be particularly nervous about the hand dryers, as presumably they're being installed in public and/or workplace toilets? That could cause a whole heap of trouble if anything went wrong.

 

[phatboy]

If it came with an electrical device, probably best dump that too..... it will be equally as safe and compliant.

I bought a Macbook charger on eBay a few years ago, looked absolutely legit, even the packaging was basically perfect. When I connected it to the laptop, it seemed to arc, and the charge light came on immediately, where as the genuine item takes a couple of seconds.

Reported the seller, returned the item as requested. Got my refund, and then 2 days later the charger arrived back with me, seller refused delivery!

Chopped the cables off and slung it, and reported via Apple's website

 

[ericmark]

I have a Nokia charger with and extendible earth pin, which clearly does not cover the required area of the socket, I have adaptors which clearly are unfused, often with the item supplied with they are OK, where the problem arises is when the lead set used with something else, it does not comply, but when one is faced with for example a transceiver costing £35 to one costing £135 one tends to accept they don't comply and simply renew lead set or adaptor.

 

[crystal ball]

Question is, where is the customer buying them from? If they are being sold in the UK, that's straight up illegal and the seller/importer can be prosecuted. If your customer is buying direct from China, that's much more difficult, and in fact your customer may technically be breaking the law by importing them. If there's a third party "sales platform" involved like Amazon Marketplace, Ebay, etc. you can expect a lot of buck-passing and denial of responsibility.

If I see an appliance with a plug/cable like that, I'm always inclined to question the safety of the rest of it. Only yesterday I refused to install a light fitting that a customer bought from China via Amazon because I could be found guilty of negligence for installing it, knowing that it doesn't meet UK safety standards. Admittedly in this case, it was very obvious that the thing was dangerous and even the customer could see why when I pointed it out.


Edit to add: I'd be particularly nervous about the hand dryers, as presumably they're being installed in public and/or workplace toilets? That could cause a whole heap of trouble if anything went wrong.

You could say that about any bit of kit, they are PAT tested by a third party by the way

 

[Adam_151]

You could say that about any bit of kit, they are PAT tested by a third party by the way

I've actually lost count of the number of times i've seen items such as the plug above, or those dodgy adapaters that are refered to as 'death-dapters' by some folk, that have been given a green PAT label

 

[crystal ball]

These are hard wired, plug went in the skip

 

[JohnW2]

Does this plug meet UK regulations?

You've had plenty of answers to that

The earth pin is partially insulated,...is that legal?

It never ceases to amaze me that many of the people producing n0n-compliant (in some cases dangerous) products such as this get such obvious things wrong - given that there is an incredible amount of information available (not the least, millions of photos) to look at.

Most of the non-compliances can be 'understood' in terms of cost-saving 9absent fuses, inadequate sized cables etc.) but, in this case, it would seem to require more effort to produce the 'wrong' product (with a partially shrouded earth pin) that it would be to produce a 'correct' (in this respect) one - unless that increased effort was offset by the need for fractionally less brass!

Kind Regards, John