Re: americancentrism strikes
"Encountering one barefoot in the middle of the night will tell you that."
Actually with 3 large prongs in a small area, or a flat back that's really not a major issue even if you are stupid enough to leave them lying around where you will walk in the dark.
"The main reason people think british plugs are safe is because of the built in fuse,"
Mainly it's because a) they ARE much safer as electrocution and electrical fire figures for the UK versus the colonies demonstrate, and b) because of features like the safe high voltage and current handling ability (typically 240 V @ 13A per socket) and the safety shutters on the socket, which together with the insulated live and neutral contacts - means that it's near impossible for kids - or anyone else - to electrocute themselves via UK plugs / sockets.
"but the only reason it NEEDS that fuse"
The reason a UK plug typically has a built in fuse is solely for greater safety. Hence partly why the colonies has an order of magnitude more electrical fires than the UK...
"the stupid and unsafe allowed use of ring circuits instead of radial wiring in houses."
Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. Ring circuits are used specifically because they have a number of major safety versus cost advantages - such as a single earth continuity failure is unlikely to break the earth for the whole ring, a ring can safely handle far higher loads than a similar cable diameter radial design and can safely support a larger number of sockets, and the BS1363 standard for ring circuits involves far more through safety tests than any equivalent standard in the colonies...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
