Minister defends safety record despite skyrocketing fireworks fatalities

Despite an undeniable upward trend in accidents and deaths caused by fireworks since then, the Minister still insists that the individual measures adopted by the government in the aftermath of the St Helen’s tragedy – which had cost the lives of five men and a woman – have contributed to a safer fireworks industry.

“It is evident that the… measures (we took) could only have contributed to make this industry safer,” he told MaltaToday in the wake of Sunday’s explosion in Gharb: which at the time of writing had killed five adults, one unborn child and seriously injured a seventh victim.

The measures alluded to include a number of legal amendments to the Explosives Act.

“In 2008, the Ministry enacted the Act to Amend the Explosives Ordinance (Cap 33). Apart from a hefty increase in the minimum imprisonment terms and fines related to the violation of the Explosives Ordinance, the Act introduced a new crime which leads to imprisonment terms and fines without the need to prove negligence in the case of explosions resulting from the illegal handling of explosives,” Mifsud Bonnici said.

“The act also empowered the law courts to withdraw licences for unlawful premises and confiscate property; and allowed the Commissioner of Police to suspend the license of any factory suspected of involvement in illegal practices.

"It also increased penalties for relapsers and allows a reduction in penalties for those who collaborate with the Police.”

Earlier this year, the Ministry published two further legal notices to further regulate this area.

“L.N. 177 gives full legal powers to the Fireworks Inspectorate to further strengthen its role in enforcing the regulations in this sector and enhancing the safety of licensed fireworks factories. The same legal notice also introduced a compulsory register which holds a detailed account of what material was purchased by each factory and what it manufactured.”

The Minister explained that this register must be freely available for inspection.

“It also introduced a limitation on the transfer of precursors, introduced the need to accompany every sale of material with a “material safety data sheet”, and also limited the maximum amount o potassium chlorate that can be used to 1150kg every year.

Furthermore, L.N. 177 introduced a limit on the number of maroons and other types of noisy fireworks that can be fired during a session and regulated the testing of fireworks. This obviously decreases the amount of such fireworks that need to be produced.”

Faced with the ongoing enigma of how the industry managed to become less safe in the wake of all these new regulation, Mifsud Bonnici suggested that the spate of fatal accidents may have been “coincidental”.

“The inquiry launched yesterday aims to establish if the latest accidents were the result of a chain of unfortunate coincidences, negligence or if there was some other root cause which has not been dealt with yet. Its findings will assist us in continuing our efforts in further controlling this industry to make it safer for those working in it and the public in general, as well as preserving its traditional element.”

However, Mifsud Bonnici ignored questions regarding the recommendations, if any, of the Fireworks Inspectorate set up in 2008, and also about the political strength of the fireworks enthusiasts’ lobby.