Originally Posted By: jtedesco This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Jeff:
You OK?
Anything to tell us about the flash, and how you felt when that happened? I think that you wear glasses and if so did they help or were you testing at waist level?
Originally Posted By: dbozek This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I’m gonna go with the plug that had pulled out of the receptacle just enough to allow something, of a metal substance, to fall across the hot pin, and when in contact with such and the metal cover…zappppp
– You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they should and could do for themselves. Abraham Lincoln
Originally Posted By: Randy Flockton This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I’ve seen this a few times before… Typically from one of the old replacement cord caps with the terminals that face the front of the cord cap… There’s typically a plastic or cardboard piece that fits over the terminals but I rarely find it in place… The wire strands break loose & fray over time & then if they contact a metal faceplate while plugged in, you get something that looks like the above…
-Randy
-- "Prices subject to change with customers additude"
Originally Posted By: Greg Fretwell This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
It looked to me like the cover was burned too. That’s why I guessed something was stuck in there and the cover snapped shut. Maybe even someone stuffing the stripped wire in there instead of a plug.
But nobody ever does that 
Originally Posted By: Bob Badger This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I was racking my head on this until I saw Randy’s post.
Quote:
.... Typically from one of the old replacement cord caps with the terminals that face the front of the cord cap... There's typically a plastic or cardboard piece that fits over the terminals but I rarely find it in place....
I agree 100% I have had that happen to me plugging in "live front" cord caps. 
I would guess this is the very reason for dead front cord caps.
Quote:
406.6(A) Attachment plugs and cord connectors shall be constructed so that there are no exposed current-carrying parts except the prongs, blades, or pins. The cover for wire terminations shall be a part that is essential for the operation of an attachment plug or connector (dead-front construction).
