National Campaign for Firework Safety
Noel's Page                                            August 2001

 
   
     
   
 
     
 

"Oh bliss for the days when they used to be issues democratically on the floor of the House of Commons, and the Minister could be questioned."

The DTI finally released the UK Firework Injury Figures.  For some reason they have changed their procedure for issuing the figures. 
No Information on their website. 
No information on how the new procedure operated,
The figures should have been issued just before the Easter Parliamentary Recess in a Written Question.  Oh bliss for the days when they used to be issues democratically on the floor of the House of Commons, and the Minister could be questioned..
When we asked why they had not come out, we were told the figures were to be delayed until after the General Election, May 7.
Not only did two people die but over half the total injuries were serious.  Further the DTI would not count injuries for the second sales period in December.  We have been promised a meeting with the new Minister for Consumer Affairs, Melanie Johnson MP.  We will be asking her why.  If there is a sales period there must be a counting period for injuries.

Now we have the figures and though they are disgraceful, one wonders why the delay?

Because two people died?

Does the fact that although Bangers have been illegal, 93 accidents still occurred. Does this embarrass them?
Eight accidents, caused by Bangers, occurred at Large Public Displays.  Which firework display operators use illegal Bangers?

For years we have supported the trend to have large public firework displays, instead of smaller family/back garden displays.  We would prefer to have properly trained licensed firework display operators, who could prove their efficiency.  But now our members are telling me they are beginning to have second thoughts, and I can see why.  Firstly one must assume that more people visit Large Displays, and therefore when accidents happen, it will happen to a larger number of people, but this is not so, because 'semi public party' and these are considerable have less than half the accidents of the 'large public display'.  I can only imagine that the in-built conscious of safety in say a 'scout' or a 'golf club' display is greater than in a paid/unpaid 'Large Public Display'.  I will give this more thought, because I assume that with small 'semi-public party' they acknowledge that their expertise is limited and fire their display accordingly.  I would like to hear your thoughts, you can email me at 'ncfs@altavista.co.uk'.

The tendency of the past few years for bigger fireworks shows up in the figures.  Under 'Not known' in 'Type of Firework' the figure has leapt from 27, in 1998, to become the largest contributor of accidents at 336. Approximately 34% of all accidents were caused by 'unknown firework', in other words a firework that does not come under the normal categories.  I assume unless otherwise informed the 'Not known' firework to be category 3 and 4 type fireworks.  Fireworks, we have been campaigning for years to be kept out of the hands of the general public.  These type of fireworks are dangerous unless handled by trained professionals.

The trend in entertainment is for bigger, better, but the reality is fireworks of today are not the ones of the fifties and sixties.  These fireworks kill, as last years figures unfortunately, tragically confirm.

Best wishes
Noel
25 August 2001


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