It is a change designed to keep your children safe. Soon some wall plug-ins will not be allowed in new homes anymore.
They will be replaced with outlets that could protect your child from serious injury even death.
Jeff Hagman distributes tamper-resistant receptacles and believes in his products.
"Many people have died by having inserted things into the wall socket like a paper clip or a bobby pin," Hagman says.
The Canadian Standards Association says more than 350 kids were treated for electrical injuries in the past six-years. Most of those Injuries occurred from placing foreign objects into a socket.
That number is expected to drop. The Canadian Electrical Code has been changed and soon only tamper-proof receptacles will be allowed in Manitoba.
"The new code requirements are for new construction," explains City of Winnipeg Electrical Engineer Mike Anderson, but owners of older homes will be encouraged to make the switch because it is a major safety upgrade.
The tamper-proof wall outlets have a plastic barrier inside that prevent foreign objects from reaching electricity.
"When you jam one side it stops something going in on the other side to complete the circuit'" says Anderson. Basically you cannot get power unless both holes are filled.
"So the idea behind this is that anything under the five year old will not be able to figure out how this works, how it actually works is that it has to have equal pressure," explains Hagman.
The new code still has to be passed into law here before it can be enforced in Manitoba.
That's expected to take at least four-months before that can happen. When it does, all new homes will have to have them.
The tamper resistant outlets are more expensive. They are about 50-cents more than the standard wall outlet.
Retailers expect the prices will eventually drop over time. All builds right now do not have to comply with the new rules.
The change in the code will not apply to home renovations.
With a report from CTV's Rachel Lagace.
