The reason this outlet is open was because my washing machine was connected directly to it. I was advised to close it up by the people who took my old washing machine away. However i dont think i can wait until my friend has time to look at this. I likely cant turn the power on on the outlet at all right now i assume, how can i make sure myself that i can safely turn the power back on? electricity varies wildly in countries, im from austria if that helps.
Edit: a friend of mine who does some electrician work as part of his job (building pools) corroborated several of your comments (the only exposed cable is the grounding one and he offered to cover it up further at a later point after i put some tape on it)
thank you all for your answers and putting me at ease
Unless there’s a grounding fault somewhere in your house, you should be good. Until tomorrow is probably fine, just make sure that the exposed grounding wire isn’t touching anything conductive in the mean time, and you’re safe even if there is a grounding fault.
If you have a voltmeter, you can measure the voltage between the grounding wire and something conductive that is connected to actual ground, such as a copper pipe or similar. Voltage should be 0 in a healthy electrical installation.
PS: Any tape will do, to be honest, as long as it’s not conductive. The main d9wnside to using duct tape instead of electrical tape is that it’s not according to code, and it looks like ass. But I’ve done it.
i dont particularly care about looks but the store i work at should have some elec tape on sale