Lija has hit the news on two fronts this week. The latest is a tragedy related to its renowned fireworks. A man lies dying in hospital after yet another fireworks factory accident, this time in Lija, on Monday afternoon.
The other story, a longstanding saga – “White dust in Lija” – which Mabel Strickland had unsuccessfully fought to get controlled in the area in the late Sixties and early Seventies, regards air pollution from a different source.
Blokrete Ltd produces construction material and has been emitting dust and noise pollution to the detriment of the health and safety of Lija residents for over 40 years with no comeback.
Both are subjects (fireworks and air pollution) I have been trying to get the authorities to attend to (not just in Lija) since my return to Malta in the early 90s. I do not wish to imply that I am a lone crusader, but they are problems I feel very strongly about and have brought to the fore as often as possible.
What particularly winds me up is the fact that we do not learn from bad experiences. On November 18, following the explosion in Zurrieq a few days earlier, in my article “Playing with fire”, I posed the following questions: How many more lives need be sacrificed before the government takes action on fireworks factories? How many more tragedies before the situation is taken in hand? What has the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) done since the last tragedy?
Explosives can never be safe, yet, preventable accidents keep happening.
I suggested that the way forward is for the government to cut down the number of licenses granted to premises where fireworks are made and the people making them; that licenses only be granted to the premises that comply with stringent health and safety requirements, and the criteria should include that they are nowhere near residences; that people working with fireworks should have certification of proper training and, last but not least, they must all have insurance to cover their families’ needs if the worst occurs.
The man who suffered severe burns in the Zurrieq fireworks factory explosion has since died, leaving a wife and two children.
On November 22, The Times’ editorial “Safety Last” also claimed that “There has, to the best of our knowledge, been no outcry from the health and safety authority. If so, this is lamentable.
“If any industry in Malta requires the most stringent rules and regulations and supervision it is the fireworks industry.
“If our fireworks manufacturers cannot get their safety act together, it is clear that they must be made to face the consequences of being shut down.”
Yet, here we are reporting another tragedy and still we wait for the authorities to take action.
When the explosion in June killed five men, I had queried, on July 1st, whether that tragedy would move the authorities to finally do something about seriously regulating the fireworks sector. I had also expected pro-life promoters to be calling for immediate action to stop this preventable loss of life. To date they demur from doing so. Why?
What had come to light after the June tragedy was that Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg had ignored recommendations made in a 2004 report by the Explosives Committee, which was not made public.
The minister then procrastinated and rather than taking action on the report he already held, formed yet another quango – the Pyrotechnics Commission – and asked for new recommendations.
In the meantime, more lives were lost and he is still dithering, waiting for this last report. The question is: Will he now, with an election in the offing, have the balls to bite the bullet?

As to the dust, Lija has managed to attract EC attention on air pollution and good for the people who successfully petitioned to get the problem recognised. The Commission has concluded that the air in Lija exceeds EU pollution limits and is not in line with EU law.
But why did the petition just cover Lija? Who lives there, besides Tonio Borg? Obviously, some other people who know which strings to pull. MEP Simon Busuttil for one.
Surely there are other towns and villages (if there are there any left) that have an even worse air pollution problem. Marsa springs to mind. But then who lives in Marsa? Would it not have made more sense for a concerted effort by our MEPs to tackle the problem holistically?
Simon Busuttil has conceded that the problem of dust emissions from construction companies affected not only Lija but also other localities in Malta where construction material companies operated and that more needed to be done to respect the rights of residents.
But don’t hold your breath, you have got a long wait for the dust to settle, let alone disappear. Even if you live in Lija, the EC has no intention of starting infringement proceeding against Malta even though it stated that “an air pollution abatement plan, prepared by Malta, did not manage to deliver compliance".
The Maltese authorities have got away with it because they claimed that relevant EU legislation is being updated and they have assured the EC that a list of mandatory measures to reduce factory noise and dust emissions is under preparation.
If they are as prompt in arriving as the fireworks factories safety measures, we have a long wait ahead.
This EC stance has surprised Simon Busuttil who said he found it difficult to understand how the EC can say that Malta is breaching EU law and not take action.
Well, perhaps if the petition had not just covered Lija it might have had more clout with the EC. Had the problem all over the island been addressed, rather than perhaps seeing it as a Nimby, isolated petition, the EC may have given the issue more weight.
So it is now up to all of us to keep up the pressure and ensure something is done to freshen up the air we breathe, get safe practices in place and get some peace and quite.

pamelapacehansen@gmail.com