On Wed, 5 Jul 2006 07:36:51 -0700, "John" wrote:

Many receptacles or switches have side screws that slightly protrude
outwards, especially after a wire has been screwed on. If you put two such
devices in a junction box, one device's hot could potentially touches the
adjacent one's neutral, touches a bare ground wire, or touches the metal
junction box.

What is the proper way to prevent this from happening?

If you wire it properly that wont happen.