Kewless wrote:

Yesterday, just as I was leaving to go to a job, my SO called me
back and asked if I knew anything about a strange odor coming
from the back bedroom. The odor, as I soon found out, was smoke.
Apparently,the surge-protector shorted against the wire shelving --
and in doing so sparked off a small electrical fire!

That has nothing whatsoever to do with your behaviour, and everything to
do with faulty gear. Anything that could short against the wire shelf
could also short against your skin.

I wouldn't worry about metal shelving any more because of this...get a
new surge protector from a different company. (In any case, whole-house
surge protectors are much more effective than the power-bar type, as
they are much closer to the primary electrical ground.)

Chris