Common sense

Their motto "Don't be evil" was canceled in 2018.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

It's a law to restrict repairs so that only people with a certificate can repair them, thereby increasing the need for training courses. It doesn't have a rationale but the excuse was that people who attempted repair might electrocute themselves.

Of all domestic appliances, the microwave oven represented the greatest danger, with a mains-derived power supply of several kilovolts which was capable of giving several hundred milliamps. If the discharge resistor failed, the charge on the capacitor was lethal long after it had been switched off.

The actual effect of the law was to decrease the number of people who were killed trying to repair them from virtually zero to virtually zero and greatly increase the number of microwave ovens that were scrapped unnecessarily.

I thought they changed it to "Don't be evil, that's our job".

In the US there have been similar discussions, but the states with significant rural industries always opposed such restrictions because in rural areas, everybody had at least some machine tools to keep production equipment in reasonable repair. Everybody had a welder or two.

When farm equipment manufacturers like John Deere tried to monopolize repair, and also provided woefully inadequate during harvest season, the heartland revolted. The repair bills were extortionate, but being unable to harvest and thus letting crops rot was insult added to injury.

One result was the passage of "Right to Repair" laws in many states.

Yeah. And 440 Vac (common in Europe) in major appliances will also ruin your whole day.

The question I always ask is how <name of feared thing> compares with traffic accidents.

/

A neon sign transformer will also wake you up and reduce you to jelly. Don't ask how I know.

Joe

Dangerous were the old tube color TV sets the chassis was live, and the antenna from the cable company was ground open it up, hold the chassis in one hand and the antenna cable in the other hand to plug it in the set. I did, learned some control over the years hanging from current managed to move my arms together so the antenna hit the chassis and blew the mains fuse, and was free.

The US constrains such services in certain industries, but usually not paternalistically.

E.g., servicing refrigeration systems requires certification primarily to ensure "proper" handling and disposal of the refrigerants.

Liability laws serve to sort out the slipshod repairs of kit that could pose a safety hazard to a subsequent purchaser/user.

Our "electric kettle" has a pair of upward-facing concentric rings *exposed* in the base. These connected to the mains and acting as the interface to the removable kettle (with similarly styled mating rings in its underside). Nothing (beyond common sense) prevents the user from making contact with these.

Coupled with the fact that you are handling liquids that could easily spill as the kettle is transported from its base to its intended dispensing location...

Toasters are notoriously vulnerable to folks trying to fish out a bagel or other "thick" item with a fork or knife.

And, apparently, enough people stick things in electric outlets to mandate a mechanical barrier included in the receptacle to seal off the openings in the absence of a "real plug".

There are all sorts of ways people can hurt themselves out of ignorance or misuse. When I worked at a hand tool manufacturer, a guy had used a wood chisel to cut aluminum gutters (I imagine it would be highly effective, though unsure how easily CONTROLLED). I guess the idea that a bit of aluminum might find its way into his eye wasn't one of the things he thought of before undertaking that activity!

The edges (rim) of hammers are tempered to soften the steel as a strike that just catches the edge would "splinter" that portion of the hammer, otherwise.

Yet, we let ANYONE dispense volatile liquids into their motor vehicles....