The Malta Archdiocese’s Environment Commission (KA) yesterday lashed out at the authorities for failing to take appropriate action in the face of the unacceptably high death toll associated with the local fireworks industry, after a spate of accidents which left seven people dead last year.
In its most strongly worded statement to date – issued in response to last month’s Pyrotechnics Commission’s report, commissioned shortly after the St Helen’s Fireworks Factory explosion which cost five lives in Gharghur last July – the KA deplored the fact that none of its own proposals was ever taken on board, and took umbrage at what it described as a “fatalistic attitude” whereby safety in fireworks production is considered an ideal too unrealistic to strive for.
“Nobody doubts that fireworks have an important part to play in these feasts,” the Commission pointed out. “At the same time, the price society has to pay for these fireworks is too high, and for this reason the same society has the right and the duty to make its voice heard in a public discussion on the subject.”
While acknowledging the inherent danger of pyrotechnics as a hobby, the KA stressed that this in itself was no excuse to postpone necessary safety reforms.
“We agree (with the Pyrotechnics Commission) that because of the nature of the work involved in fireworks production, we can never manage all the risks so that they are completely eliminated. But we feel that this reality is often used by some to justify and render acceptable certain shortcomings in the fireworks manufacturing process, so that it appears impossible to do anything to reduce the danger.”
Significantly, the KA supports recommendations to immediately close all fireworks factories operating within the outside safety distance of 183 metres: a proposal which forcefully calls to mind a controversial Cabinet decision in 2001 to legitimise the continued operation of the St Helen’s factory in Gharghur, by reclassifying a nearby road in order to circumvent the safety distance regulation.
The same factory exploded on July 27, killing five pyrotechnics enthusiasts who were working on the fireworks for the festa of St Helen in Birkirkara. It later transpired that the decision to allow the factory to continue operating had been taken without consultation with the Explosives Committee, the government’s own appointed watchdog on fireworks safety.
Residents of the vicinity have since initiated legal proceedings against the government for exposing them to unnecessary risk.
Just over three months after the Gharghur tragedy, another two lives were lost after a Zebbug fireworks factory went up in smoke in November, prompting numerous calls for a long-overdue revision of safety regulations. It transpired from the Zebbug explosion that the risk of fatality could have been greatly reduced had the building been better designed to withstand an explosion. But apart from awaiting the Pyrotechnic Commission’s report on the subject – eventually issued on 5 December, but kept under wraps for several weeks afterwards – no concrete provisions have since been taken to prevent similar tragedies from recurring in future.
Meanwhile, an email sent in error to this newspaper last August revealed how the Home Affairs Minister had previously ignored the same Pyrotechnics Commission’s recommendations to relocate two other fireworks factories, in Luqa and Lija respectively, because of safety threats to nearby residents. Minister Tonio Borg also refused to disclose how many safety inspections were carried out in fireworks factories despite a parliamentary question to this effect tabled in October by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo.
The bulk of the Commission’s criticism yesterday was directed precisely at this apparent reluctance to curtail an immensely popular local hobby at a politically sensitive juncture in time.
“It is unacceptable that the debate on these unresolved issues only arises when tragedies occur, as unfortunately happened recently… only to be forgotten after a short while, with things remaining as they were before! How many more possibly avoidable deaths must take place, for the country to take this issue seriously?”
Apart from calling for a national debate on the issue, the KA also recommends a general tightening of licence criteria and requirements; the establishment of a safety officer for all factories; and mandatory health and safety educational courses for all pyrotechnics enthusiasts.

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt