Improve child safety: child proof electrical outlets by raising their height instead of buying plugs or outlet covers

While answering a forum post about why most electrical outlets are in pairs, I wrote that I had always wondered why electrical outlets are placed so low to the floor. About 12 to 18 inches from the floor to the center of the outlet seems to be normal. So I decided to see if I could start a grass roots community effort to change this and improve child safety. The first thing I did was create a Facebook community group called "Raise Our Power Outlets" to build support and get building codes changed so that all new construction will locate electrical outlets high enough to be out of reach of our children.

Right now, electrical outlets are at the perfect height for babies and small children to reach. Kids are naturally attracted to them and want to explore and poke the holes with anything they have available. This is extremely dangerous. I know how much power is in wall outlets and let me tell you - it is enough to weld metal together instantly, to burn holes through solid steel, and to permanently damage or kill a small child before anybody can react or help. It does not matter how many times we tell our kids to leave the outlets alone or that they are not toys. They are watching and waiting for their chance to touch electrical outlets.

So what do we do? Well, many people do nothing beyond constantly picking their kids up and telling them "No." Some parents will try to hide the electric wall outlets behind furniture or even paint the covers to blend in with the wall. But many of us will buy plastic outlet plugs that fit tight into the electrical outlets to protect our kids. How long does that last though? The plugs either wear out and get loose, we get tired of fighting with them and stop using them (maybe on just that one outlet only), or forget to replace the plug after vacuuming. Do they really work even when the plugs are installed? Well, many toddlers can easily remove them and sometimes, because of their small fingers, they can remove the electrical safety plugs better than adults.

Another option is to buy and install wall plates or electrical outlet covers that have protective hole covers built-in. Some outlet covers will only open when twisted, some require the ground lead to be inserted first, and some slide open with a click. While these do help, all they really do is slow a curious child down one or two times. The problem is that a child may only try this once before being electrocuted or severely burned.

A better solution is right in front of us though. All we have to do is move the electric outlets higher on the wall so they are out of reach of small children. Let me ask you, do you or would you keep dangerous chemicals or poisons sitting on your living room floor right next to your baby even though they have a childproof cap on them? Ridiculous, right? The only reason I can think of for why we do this with enough raw power to melt steel instantly is because "that's the way all houses are built." To me, that's just as ridiculous as letting kids play with chemicals or medicine. All we need to do is raise enough awareness of this issue and someday our grandkids will look back and wonder why anybody would put something so dangerous and attractive within easy reach of a toddler.

Please help by either commenting on this blog post or joining the Facebook community page above.