The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging the organisers of fireworks events to make sure they have carried out a full risk assessment for public safety.

Local councils and organisers across the UK are being asked to be especially aware of issues of safety regarding firework displays this year – around 1,000 people are injured by fireworks every year.

The HSE has issued new guidelines for 2009, to help organisers reduce the number of injuries from fireworks. The five safety tips for staging safe firework displays are:

• Recheck the site, weather conditions and wind direction 
• Don't let the public into the firing zone or the area where the fireworks will fall
• Discourage spectators from bringing alcohol onto the site
• Don't let spectators bring their own fireworks onto the site
• Never attempt to relight fireworks that have failed to go off. 

 Principal inspector in HSE’s Explosives Inspectorate, Allen Webb, said that firework displays should be ‘enjoyable and spectacular occasions’, but they needed planning.

‘If you’re holding a local firework display in your community, you won’t need to plan it in the same level of detail as a major display,’ Mr Webb advised. ‘But you still need to plan it responsibly, without cutting corners over safety. That means thinking about who will light the display, whether the site is large enough and free from overhead obstructions – and what you’d do if something went wrong.

‘It may be common sense, but accidents often happen if people don’t think enough in advance about the risks,’ said Mr Webb. ‘Fireworks in Categories 1 – 3 can be used for most organised displays, but Category 4 fireworks should only be used by professional firework display operators.

‘For displays using Category 4 fireworks, areas should be marked to keep spectators a safe distance back, clear routes should be provided onto and off the site, and a suitable number

of trained stewards should be on duty at the event,’ he advised.

The HSE is also advising organisers to obtain public liability insurance, although it is not required by law. 

More information on firework safety is available at www.hse.gov.uk/explosives/fireworks.

Two guidance booklets – ‘Working together on firework displays’ and ‘Giving your own firework display’ – are available to download free of charge from the ‘Organising firework displays’ section of the HSE’s website.

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