Faulty appliances cause 12,000 fires, Which? research finds - BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33124925

Who remembers to register devices these days? It's more about sending you a pile of crap and an extended warranty than them saying you've got a fire hazard. And that's assuming someone doesn't sell on your details.

EU safety standards ...

The Problem is, the devices are tested pretty much to destruction (we've just been through electrical, electro magnetic, dust and water certification for our industry PCs (passed with flying colours, we can run them under water). That means that you cannot test every single one before it goes out. So the tests are based on sample machines (one for each range of tests).

If a component from a later batch isn't up to snuff, then it can cause problems. Any testing, EU, BSI or any other, is just an indication that if the device is assembled properly and the individual components aren't faulty, then it is safe.

No amount of testing can guarantee every device coming off the production line is 100% safe.

That is why registration is important, in the case of a recall, you will hopefully be informed before the device causes problems.

Just look at the number of notebook battery recalls over the last few years, 10s of millions of the darned things. Power supplies as well. All because, somewhere in the supply chain, somebody cut a corner after the components and finished devices were tested.

UK education standards ...

EU education standards ...

The EU has absolutely nothing to do with our educations standards. Any standards we have are set by the Government - witness their recent rejigging of the GCSE scoring system. Any stupidity in it can be put squarely at the feet of the Department for Education and the relevant minister.

The is an international standard education/curriculum - it's called the Baccalaureate. Very, very few British schools teach or examine using it.

It's got bugger all to do with the EU.
The fact is that we have fewer house fires than we did in the 1950s.
Despite a much larger population.
The highest contributing appliance - washing machines - caused 1723 fires over the period looked at.
There are about 2.6 million machines sold in the UK each year.
So you're talking about 1723 fires from washing machines in a period where roughly 7.8 million were sold.
Thank god for EU safety standards, or we could be back where we were in the 50s.