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Van de 380 partijen die de vroegere Keuringsdienst van Waren afgelopen jaar in vooral de Rotterdamse haven onderzocht, voldeed 20 tot 50 procent niet aan de veiligheidseisen. Stekkerblokken bleken te dunne kabels te hebben, waardoor snel kortsluiting ontstaat. Elektrisch gereedschap was zo beroerd gemaakt dat elektrocutie voor de gebruiker dreigt en pluchen dieren leverden verstikkingsgevaar op.

Every year, electrical fires result in thousands of injuries, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and, in some cases, even death.

While some fires are caused by faulty products, many more are caused by the misuse and poor maintenance of electrical equipment, incorrectly installed wiring, overloaded circuits and misapplied extension cords.

Smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and escape ladders are all examples of emergency equipment used in homes to take action when a fire occurs. A device called an Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter, or AFCI, is a residential circuit breaker designed to detect arcing faults and thus prevent fires from occurring in the first place.

Arcing can occur when you're hanging a picture and inadvertently pierce a wire in the wall, when old wires fray or when you string extension cords together to run fans or space heaters.

Approximately 2,300 injuries, 67,800 fires and 485 deaths occur each year that can be associated with home wiring, totaling $868 million in property losses. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that "AFCI devices may address 50 percent or more of these fires."

Fatalities per 100 million passenger km:

Car: 1.1

Rail: > 0.1

Air: 0.1

Space Shuttle: ~1.9

Ohio State University engineers are working to make the traffic control boxes that stand beside major freeways smarter.

They've developed new software that helps the computerized boxes locate road incidents -- such as traffic back-ups or accidents -- and notify transportation authorities at lower cost, especially in rural areas.