The cogs have finally been set in motion for the setting up of the long-promised fireworks inspection unit in time for the festa season, even if it may end up being partly staffed by fireworks enthusiasts. A notice circulated among the heads of different government departments calls for candidates interested in forming part of such a team.
The candidates must either be in possession of a degree in chemistry and have three years experience in handling and storing explosive material, preferably of the kind used in the manufacture of fireworks, or simply have five years experience in the handling of such material and, possibly, an A licence, which is the type issued to fireworks enthusiasts.
The call, so far made internally within the civil service, may eventually be open to the public if there are not enough applicants within the government's own workforce.
Following the latest tragedy in Naxxar, where illegally-stored fireworks exploded in the midst of a residential area on March 12 killing two people and completely destroying three houses, the newly-appointed Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici had promised to take action to regulate the industry.
In fact, the setting up of the unit would set in motion a key recommendation to improve fireworks factory safety that was made in a 2004 report but which was largely ignored by the previous Administration.
However, industry sources said the notion that enthusiasts may be on the inspection team could create problems not least among enthusiasts themselves. The exact formula used to produce certain fireworks, which are associated with specific factories, is guarded jealously.
The call stipulates that any conflict of interest related to a particular factory must be declared. Nonetheless, an enthusiast told The Times: "No factory is going to allow an enthusiast even remotely associated with a rival factory in to inspect its fireworks.
"There are certain fireworks which do not explode after being launched and we make sure to recover to ensure that nobody from some other factory gets their hands on them to copy the formula," he said.
When contacted, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the idea was to have a mix of people and not just graduates in chemistry.
"There is some hands-on knowledge that is also required for the purposes of the inspection unit and there are people out there who are associated with the manufacture of fireworks and who are respectable individuals who can be trusted with this role," he said, adding that the plan is for the unit to be set up by the first weeks of June.
In fact, the brief of the unit is not only to inspect the factories but also where the fireworks are launched from. The lack of an inspection unit able to carry out random checks on firework factories was raised last January by the Pyrotechnics Commission in a second report on fireworks.
The 2004 report had highlighted three factories which do not operate according to the basic safety specifications, an army source had told The Times in 2005. However, in the absence of an enforcement arm, nothing could be done about such breaches.
The second report referred to that document and the fireworks factories which had been earmarked as dangerous, without actually mentioning them.
Even the ministry remained tight-lipped on the contents of the 2004 document when asked about it in January shortly after the publication of the second document.