And, anything electrical can develop a short circuit--anything.
That's what the internal fusing in the power supply is for. Behringer doesn't make those power supplies, they are OEM, supplied by power supply mfrs who get the UL/CSA etc. certification for them. They wouldn't be certified as compliant if they could cause a fire due to an internal short. The certification comes from testing.
If it's plugged into an electrical outlet, and does not have an on/off switch, not only is it vulnerable to a power surge, but as Diki stated you cannot select the sequence the equipment is turned on or off, which in some instances, could cause serious damage to other equipment.
Like I said, I have a small Berry miser here that is used for keyboard mixing that has run 24/7 for at least five years. If I have to make a connect or do something else that would create the speaker damaging POP -- I simply roll the Master Fader on the mixer all the way off and then make the connect.
What I find really interesting is that when your TV is turned off by remote control it's not really off. Instead, it's in a standby mode. It still draws power and over a year's time that can amount to a significant increase in your electric bill.
Inside sets like that there is a *separate* very small transformer/power supply circuit for that purpose. While it does draw power, it is minimal, plus it is not like the actual larger transformer and supply is operative all the time, it isn't. That larger supply is physically disconnected from the AC mains via electromagnetic relay contacts, which does the exact same thing as a manual power switch.
Even if Behringer did install a power switch on the mixer itself, it could only disconnect the low voltage DC supplied by the separate power supply. It would not be able to turn the power supply off nor disconnect it from 5he AC mains.
It is, however, very likely that the cost factor does come into play here. After all, it is the consumer who drives prices ever downward via buying habits.
At any rate, I wouldn't be overly concerned about the lack of a power switch on such an economical little mixer. And I'm not.
--Mac