A fireworks inquiry report has come under fire for making “sweeping statements” about manufacturers when it said they were often hurried and inattentive when carrying out their work.

In an initial reaction to the report published on Wednesday, Michael Falzon, legal adviser to the Pyrotechnics Association and the Labour Party’s home affairs spokesman, said the board’s statement was “unfair”.

“If manufacturers are so careless how come they always come first in international competitions? It is unfair for somebody who is not qualified in pyrotechnics to make such a sweeping statement.”

Dr Falzon was referring to the inquiry board’s chairman, Alfred Vella, a chemist and University lecturer.

The inquiry board was set up last year by the Home Affairs Ministry after a spate of tragic fireworks accidents.

In a similar vein, Godfrey Farrugia, a doctor and Licence A holder for the St Philips fireworks factory of Żebbuġ, criticised the report’s labelling of pyrotechnicians as a bunch of dilettantes.

“Prof. Vella is a good chemist but he is not a licensed pyrotechnician and can never know what happens inside the factories because he cannot enter and, unfortunately, he is looking at this from a negative perspective,” Dr Farrugia said.

Describing pyrotechnics as “a science and an art”, Dr Farrugia said manufacturers were licensed people who knew what they were doing.

“They are not professional because they are volunteers but they are much more than enthusiasts,” he said.

Dr Farrugia and Dr Falzon have not yet leafed through the voluminous report, which they downloaded yesterday, but both insist that people involved in fireworks manufacturing were all out to improve safety.

“We are all in favour of improving the situation as long as there are no hidden agendas because we do not want to end up like the hunting community,” Dr Falzon said.

The two also agree with the government’s course of action not to implement the inquiry board’s recommendations immediately and instead call a national stakeholders’ conference.

“The time for imposition is over and if manufacturers become active participants in the decision-making process they will eventually embrace the decisions taken,” Dr Farrugia said.

Basing itself on statistical trends over a 30-year span, the inquiry board said that more tragedies could be expected next year or the year after.

Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici has defended his decision not to forge ahead with implementing the recommendations.

“We do not believe that reforming the sector without having every stakeholder on board can solve the problems identified in the report,” he said.

He insisted that the matter had to be dealt with “the appropriate caution” and stakeholders had to be given the opportunity to analyse the findings in detail.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the stakeholders included fireworks enthusiasts, the public and a variety of other bodies and authorities involved in the regulation, monitoring and enforcement of the sector.

“The government believes that coordination between all stakeholders is crucial if the culture change that will be brought to this sector after the publication of this report is to leave the desired positive effect,” he said.

One of the proposals made by the inquiry board is to ban the use of potassium chlorate, a highly volatile chemical.

However, opinion is divided on the matter. Dr Falzon believes that potassium chlorate cannot be banned completely, especially in mixtures for colour displays.

“In mixtures involving metals, the chlorate can be substituted by potassium perchlorate but, otherwise, I cannot see a situation where it is completely banned,” he said.

Dr Farrugia agreed that a ban on potassium chlorate would have a negative impact on the sharpness of the colour in aerial displays but was more open to the suggestion that it must be banned.

He said that the alternative, potassium perchlorate, although safer was more expensive and manufacturers had to have a transition period to allow for experimentation.

“It will not be an easy switch but it will be safer and manufacturers should take advantage of this moment to improve their working environments,” Dr Farrugia said.

Given the higher expense manufacturers would incur, Dr Farrugia called on the government to provide incentives and help ease the financial burden.

The inquiry found that over the past 30 years fireworks have caused an average of 2.3 accidents every year, which, compared to the UK, is a much higher accident rate.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com