Protection circuit for an electrical appliance

A protection circuit for an electric appliance 4 configured to control power supply to an associated electrical component 6 of the appliance such as a heating device, lamp or motor. The protection circuit comprises a first comparator module 10 configured to compare an operating parameter (e.g temperature) input signal 16 to a threshold value 20 and to output a first control signal 22 to a first switching circuit 12 configured to control power flow to the associated electrical component 6. The first comparator module is configured to receive an enable/disable signal 31 from a first state-change latching device 30, wherein the first state-change latching device is responsive to a state change of the first control signal 22 from the first comparator module, in response to which the state-change latching 30 device changes the enable/disable signal 31 from an enable state to a disable state to set the first control signal into an off state.