Now, the tree makes it pretty clear that this shot is outdoors. So that brings up some other things. Not only is the receptacle missing a cover, it is actually missing a "waterproof" cover. The other thing, being located outside, this receptacle needs to have GFCI protection (which helps prevent shocks). You can tell all those things from the photo, except you can't identify if it is GFCI protected or not. Obviously it is not specifically a GFCI receptacle but an outdoor receptacle such as this could also be protected by a GFCI circuit breaker or it could be a slave of another GFCI receptacle located elsewhere in the system.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections