[Cocktail]

User or component safety? I think in general electronics do not require much in the way of user safety (Ofcourse I exclude power electronics and other high-energy systems) beyond how to properly use measurement devices. Component safety, eg: the art of not killing your semiconductors is another beast entirely

[mrob]

From Wikipedia's "Electrolytic capacitor" article:

"Applying a reverse polarity voltage, or a voltage exceeding the maximum rated working voltage of as little as 1 or 1.5 volts, can destroy the dielectric and thus the capacitor. The failure of electrolytic capacitors can be hazardous, resulting in an explosion or fire."

Even a small one could take somebody's eye out if they happened to be close to it when it failed and not wearing eye protection.

[tzs]

Even low power components can do things that could hurt you if you do something wrong with them.

When I was first playing around with electronics as a kid using kits and individual components purchased from Radio Shack I once put an LED directly across the terminals of a lantern battery.

The LED exploded sending little bits of plastic flying off at high speed. They all missed me, but if I had been in a little different position when hooking up that LED my lesson in the importance of using current limiting resistors with LEDs could have been punctuated by a serious eye injury.

I'd say that a paragraph when each component is introduced covering what bad things that component can do if you exceed its voltage, current, or power limits would be a good idea even if the course is only dealing with low power systems.