Things like not being able to stick things into the line/neutral holes unless the ground pin (which is longer) is inserted make them very safe, and the plastic lower part of the line/neutral pins to stop you accidentally touching something that will have current running through it until the plug is safely inserted is inspired.
The reason why they have fuses is so you can use ring circuits, which saves copper compared to the usual radial wiring. So its just about saving a little money.
Everyone now gets to state his favourite plug type. Bring it on!
Mine is the swiss Type J (http://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/j...). Its safe, not an eyesore and very space efficient. Its safe against voltage reversal, usually has a protective shroud and the ground pin is contacting first. Well engineered, very swiss like.
Some people do, I think its an expression of culture. Its hard not to notice that the swiss and the nordic countries (especially Sweden and Norway) value a certain aesthetics. This expresses itself in many things, ranging from architecture to product design, art and the design of public spaces.
There is a reason swiss typography was big, and why nordic design is appreciated all over the world. It could only emerge from these cultural surroundings, its a mindset.
That plug is an expression of british engineering values. Its certainly a very well designed plug, but I also believe the reason why swiss and nordic products are more popular than british ones is that they are made with a different approach.
Probably those same values are also the reason why british music is so great, and why swiss music is... oh well, have you ever listened to mundart-rock? So I'm not saying X is better than Y, there are trade-offs involved.
Reminds me of a favorite recording of Dizzy Gillespie playing with his band at Montreux. It's a pretty reserved audience, and Dizzy, who was renowned for having a lively interchange with his audiences, said while introducing vibe player Milt Jackson:
"So far, you are a typical Swiss audience. Of course, a Swiss audience might not be the greatest audience in the world. But they will do until the real thing comes along."
The last was said mirthfully, pausing to emphasize each word, and the audience chuckles good-naturedly, knowing their limitations.
Looking at plugs, I suspect that many get round this by making the housing of the plug much more firmly attached to the cable.
OP is talking about the failure mode when you pull the cable out of the plug - the live and neutral cables are shorter and tighter and will fail first, leaving the earth wire to fail last.
edit: now that I think of it, Schuko plugs of the install-yourself kind where you can attach cable with a screwdriver (not solid plastic with the cable) are done so that the earth cable is longer than L/N are inside the casing.
(It was probably more useful 20 or more years ago, before moulded plugs were common.)
However, it is very unusual if the cable comes loose from the plug casing.
See http://www.netonnet.se/ItemImages/koppla-och-anslut/el/el-ka... and http://media.conrad.com/medias/global/ce/9000_9999/9400/9440... The first one there is the most common plug here actually.
The problem with British plugs though is the rectangular pins. Mechanically, it's simpler to get a good large contact surface area with a circular pin in a circular socket. You do sometimes come across UK sockets which have been slightly damaged and get hot because the contact resistance is no longer negligible.
Of course, there's no guarantee what your reward will be, and they maybe aren't the safest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#Chin...
You can also trick it by doing a sort of dance with te plug where you partially force in the ground, then one live, then you spin it and put the other one in.
The day we have USB wall sockets can't come soon enough.
Same in Australia, of course you can still go off an buy and Apple Laptop charger with no ground.
The relevant Australian Standard (AS/NZ 3820, I think?) tells you an electrical appliance doesn't need to have an earth pin if it's double insulated, which the MacBook charger, and the stick blender in my kitchen, amongst others, are.
Source: I'm certified for Electrical Test & Tag in Australia.
Personally, I'm not too bothered either way. I don't find either any more or less annoying as they're both pretty bulky, unless you're using Europlugs, which lack most of the benefits of Schuko plugs.
Still nothing compares in its awfulness to North American plugs. Aussie plugs are similar, but they had the good sense to tilt the prongs at an angle to give the plug better mechanical stability.
Being able to plug them in ungrounded Euro sockets is handy, but also makes them less safe.