Life is cheap, fireworks make money

Will we ever learn? 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? The authorities need to bite the bullet and sort this problem out once and for all. I wrote that in November 2007, in my then MaltaToday column “Playing with fire”.

The previous June five men had been killed in a similar explosion and then Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg had said that he would have recommendations for reforms to the manufacture of fireworks drawn up by September of that year. Yet, here we are five years on with another fatal accident involving a fireworks factory and with no legislation yet in hand.

In 2004, the Explosives Committee (the regulatory body) had already provided recommendations in a report that was not made public. A Pyrotechnics Committee was then set up to make fresh recommendations. But this report was again not made public. Does this ring any bells?

In September 2010, after yet another tragedy at the Farrugia Brothers factory in Gharb that killed six people, including a pregnant woman, there was talk of a moratorium. A former committee head, Col Albert Camilleri, an explosive expert with 45 years experience, had said that a moratorium would work but “a date had to be set by when every factory had depleted its stock”, which had suggested that a stockpile exists. Initial investigations had indicated that the factory was packed with more explosives than allowed by law, I commented in my column “Culture control” in this paper on 12 September 2010.

As well as the six people who had died on 5 September, a man died on 13 August in an explosion at the fireworks factory in Dwejra, another died in May at St Catherine’s Fireworks Factory in Marsaxlokk and two men lost their lives in February, at the St Sebastian Fireworks Factory in Qormi, in that year.

On a One TV, Joe Grima, programme at the beginning of the firework season that year, I had challenged the rest of the panel − all, excepting one neutral member, defending their safety record − on insurance and asked them: Who takes care of the families left behind after a tragedy?

Later, after the tragedy in September, I read, “No claims for insurance money can be made in connection with Sunday’s fireworks factory explosion in Gharb, which killed six people”. KDM Insurance Brokers general manager Alberto Bisazza explained, “The Malta Pyrotechnics Association has a block insurance policy in place covering the firework licensees but this is a third party liability policy specifically designed to cover the period when fireworks are being let off and while the fireworks are transported from the fireworks factory to the site/s. Therefore, nothing relating to this unfortunate accident can be recovered under this policy,” he had told The Times. I am not sure whether there have been any changes since in this regard.

Now after the latest tragedy, I learn from a Times article by Mark Micallef on Thursday, that the Office of the Prime Minister has now taken over the responsibility for fireworks. This is not the first time that the OPM has taken over a failing portfolio, not that we have seen much change in the process.

A spokesperson told him: “The government will await the policy and legislative proposals forthcoming from the Explosives Committee before moving on to the implementation stage.” According to Mark, he was referring to the implementation of recommendations by the Commission following the September 2010 explosion.

But hang on a minute, the Explosives Committee had already provided recommendations eight years ago, and what about Minister Tonio Borg’s assurance that recommendations for reforms to the manufacture of fireworks were to be drawn up by September of 2007. Why is there so much going over the same process again and again? Sounds like procrastination.

Recommendations to improve safety were made again, not for the first time, last December by the Commission chaired by chemistry professor Alfred Vella. Its report found that dangerous chemical mixtures, banned abroad because they were too volatile, were still in use here.

Rather than action being taken immediately on such a straightforward recommendation in the report, a task force was set up two months later to “oversee a consultation process with stakeholders” on the report’s recommendations. The task force’s proposed measures were then referred to the Explosives Committee in March, which was then asked to draw up proposals for legislation to implement the main recommendations. And it seems that is where it is stuck.

Professor Vella and Professor Victor Axiaq, a commission member (I believe representing the Curia), are now yet again calling for certain key recommendations, particularly the ban of such dangerous mixtures, to be urgently implemented. I don’t know whether the Explosives Committee members are still the same people as eight years ago. But if they are, no wonder they are in no hurry, they probably think it will only be shelved yet again, especially with the parties already gearing up for the next election.

“We are willing to agree with any possible means which renders the art of pyrotechnics safer, including the restriction of certain chemical mixtures,” a spokesperson for The Labour Party told The Times. It was averse to the idea of a moratorium and outright bans. “Moratoriums and outright bans might be popular but would only lead to illegal manufacturing. Strict surveillance and tight regulations should be in place,” the spokesman said. The PL called for an urgent conference that would debate and “decide” on the recommendations of the Vella report. More procrastination. Come on.

Don’t for a moment think that we shall get any further on this if Labour wins the next election. The fireworks lobby is not only strong and has sponsors on both sides of the House, but it also has the vital ingredient – money, lots of it.
The cherry on the cake is that we also hear from Mark Micallef that Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat’s father is an enthusiast and imports chemicals used for fireworks. Scanning through the comments to that article, this gem seems to have bypassed all the usual online commentators.

Published in the Malta Independent on Sunday on 11/11/12