paranoia

The Brits are paranoid about fire. Every single room has a fire detector, & nearly every door in every academic building is a fire door. Every electric plug has an on/off switch, & there's lots of advertising (TV & magazines) reminding people that's it not enough to turn off an electrical appliance, but you should switch off the plug as well. Security in my dorm comes around to each kitchen around 11.00 pm to make sure that all cookers (oven/stovetop) are off & their switches are turned off. Bathrooms don't have regular electrical plugs, only modified ones that I assume are super-short-proofed.

DESPITE THIS, my department's building burned down in 1990. The Informatics department burned down last year. Fires seem all too common. I'm guessing that this is because so many of the buildings here are really old & have electrical systems that are retrofits.