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Once an item is in the code, it's up to the provinces to adopt it, Brown said, and he expects a majority will do so within six months.

"This is a change that actually helps protect children from electrical injuries," Boxell said.

She noted that on average, there are about four deaths each year in Canada due to electrical injuries.

"And we have about 121 emergency room visits as a result of an electrical injury, and that's for children under the age of 14," she said.

"It's a significant amount of kids who, unfortunately, are injured."

The code is more than 700 pages and this version includes 118 revisions, Brown said.

In addition to the electrical outlets, he said homeowners with swimming pools will find new bonding requirements for pools installed or retrofitted with saline chlorination systems.

The salt can cause corrosion to the wiring needed for lights around a pool, he noted.

As well, the code will require that carbon monoxide detectors be hard-wired into a residence so they can run on the electrical system, and not batteries that might run out and not get replaced.