I know all my ovens need the time set, and my single stand alone hob will not start without pressing the on button then second button, not sure about stand alone cooker however it needs to have some thing which is attracted by a magnet so unless pan also left on the hob nothing would happen, it also has over temperature sensors so there is a limit, since it locks out if left on without a pan until you switch the ring off and back on again I suspect if switched on with a ring switched on it would auto lock out that ring until turned off and on again, but not at home so can't test.
However I am sure there are cheap and nasty cookers made with little or no safety features, eldest daughter and father-in-law has cookers with naked flames and you can still use a standard pan to heat oil or fat, that must be extremely dangerous, people use to these antiquated hobs have got use to treating them with extreme caution, however those use to using electric induction hobs have over the years got use to the safety features.
I walked into my caravan to see the gas hob burning, not easy in strong sun light to see the flame, it seems my wife forgot to turn it off, at home she did not need to turn it off, the hob would automaticity do that.
This is the problem with any safety feature, people get use to it being there, so once we start to add them we have to continue using the feature and expand it to other items, when I was a lad there were no RCD's but today they are fitted to all new houses. As to hobs first I used had a spring like element which was wound around a porcelain former, over time the spring would break and often the ends would spring up and touch the pan, you needed pans with plastic or bone handles or you could get quite a shock, easy to replace Woolworths sold them in little packets. Today no one would use these hobs, but they were common.
