Electrical Hazards
We use electricity in our home for many things - heating, lighting, cooling, entertaining, etc. These could be when we boil water, switch on the light, refrigerate our food, or watch the television.
The electricity for these appliances comes from the power station to mains sockets on the walls of our houses. These sockets usually have a voltage of 100 V or 240 V. If we touch this voltage accidentally, we get an electric shock. This shock could hurt, and even kill. Electrical appliances like cookers can get very hot. If these come in contact with papers or cloth, they can catch fire.
Lets think about possible ways that such accidents may happen. If everything is working properly, it is quite safe to use an electric kettle to boil water. What if I have a very old kettle, and the plastic insulation on some parts of the wires are worn? If the bare wire touches the body of the kettle, and I pick up the kettle, I would get an electric shock.
Electric kettles are supposed to switch off automatically when water boils. I find that sometimes when I forget to close cover properly, my kettle refuses to switch off. The water just keeps boiling and boiling. If all the water boiled off when I am not looking, the kettle would then get hotter and hotter. Things nearby could catch fire.
We must be careful if electrical appliance gets wet, because water can conduct electricity. I once splashed some water onto the socket of my kettle. When I plugged in the cable and switched on, the whole house went dark. The plug has short circuited the mains and tripped the fuse box. I had to wait for the socket to dry before I could use it again. I was lucky - if the kettle had switched on, and I touched the wet socket, I could get electrocuted.