ANOTHER Halloween season, another distressing tale of a child suffering serious injuries from a firework.
It’s a familiar story, but despite its predictability and despite the fact that we see it coming every year, we continually fail to get a handle on the problem – and people continue getting hurt.
As is the case with so many of society’s ills, education – or the lack of it – is at t he very heart of this recurring problem. People – and young people in particular – continue to handle and ignite fireworks with little or no appreciation of the extreme danger that they pose. They are seen as seasonal entertainment, the crack, fizz and bang being a part of the autumn scene every bit as much as falling leaves and dropping temperatures.
But as first responders and accident prevention agencies keep telling us, they are not toys – far from it. They are, in fact, small bombs which manage to find their way into the hands of people who have not and will not spend a single second educating themselves in the process of safe and responsible use. Were a parent to be told that their child is handling an explosive device, they’d be straight out the door and dragging them back inside, horrified and terrified in equal measure. But tell the same parent that their child is with their friends letting off fireworks and the likelihood is that they will smile indulgently.
The difficulty is that the vast majority of fireworks are bought and sold illegally for displays that are held informally and without the permissions and licences required, much less insurance. Which means that regulation is effectively out the window. The fireworks are sold via illegal pop-up methods – from car boots, from private houses, from existing businesses, from temporary premises. Throw in the fact that since the purchase and use of the fireworks is taking place outside the law, the fireworks themselves are – like illegal cigarettes – nowhere close to meeting the health and safety standards required by law and that means that already highly dangerous items become even positively lethal.
Schools and parents have a role to play in educating young people in the danger of fireworks and the possible consequences that can ensue. As for adults who hold illegal firework displays with unregulated fireworks, they should remind themselves that they are putting other people – often their own families – at risk. Meanwhile, the police should be doing more to ensure that the illegal sale of fireworks doesn’t take place with the ease and frequency that is currently the case.
A side issue, but an important one, is the danger posed to family pets during the Halloween season – and particularly on Halloween night. Cats and dogs can be endangered by fireworks just as humans can, but the main threat to animals lies in the extreme stress and anxiety that cats and dogs often experience with extreme and unfamiliar noise. Responsible owners should familiarise themselves with protection techniques.
