After a year or so of waiting, the government yesterday released the Pyrotechnics Commission's report on improvements to fireworks factory safety, which turns out to be a four-page document echoing in part some of the recommendations made by another commission in 2005.
The report - dated December 5 - contains some specific recommendations such as that the levels of potassium chlorate stored in fireworks factories should be halved from the present 1.5 tonnes to 750 kilogrammes as of Tuesday.
However, it fails to make conclusive recommendations on a number of salient issues such as the safety distance of existing fireworks from neighbouring buildings and roads.
Significantly, on this point the document refers to the 2005 document, prepared by another group of experts who had made a number of recommendations that have never been implemented. That report had identified a number of fireworks as breaching the safety buffer distance of 183 metres prescribed by law.
The government never released the document or made public which factories were deemed unsafe. The Pyrotechnics Commission does not mention these factories either but calls for the findings of that study to be extended to all fireworks factories in Malta.
Similarly, it recommends that a study be carried out to quantify the amount of explosives that can be stored in the factories so that accidental explosions will be contained within the legally-prescribed safe distance.
In fact, experts who had spoken to The Times, said that at present some factories store so much material that projectiles from an explosion would far exceed the 183 metre-limit.
The study released yesterday also recommends, as the 2005 report had done, that a team of experts be set up to inspect fireworks factories regularly.
The unit would act as an inspectorate, which would be able to carry out regular checks on fireworks factories - something that is not done presently. As a stop-gap solution, until the unit is set up, the commission recommends that the task be assigned to the Explosives Ordinance Unit of the Armed Forces of Malta.
The commission recommends that this unit should have the power to "recommend" the closure of a fireworks factory should it not conform to regulations "for a period which does not exceed 30 days". If, after this period, the factory's licensee would still have not ensured that the building meets the standards, the police would "insist" that the AFM stop supplying the factory with potassium chloride and potassium nitrate.
On potassium chloride, the commission says that a review of a number of accidents that took place in the past shows that they were caused by a mix of chemicals based on the substance. It then goes on to say that it wants to "encourage" the use of a potassium percolate that is deemed to be less hazardous.
It also recommends that another substance, ammonium percolate, be banned altogether as this is deemed to be "extremely hazardous".
The report also recommends that firework factories should attempt to make arrangements with insurance companies in order to protect the interests of third parties in case of an accident.
It also suggests that the penalties prescribed by the law regulating fireworks factories be reviewed, arguing that at the moment they do not serve as a deterrent for bad practice.
The commission said it would be meeting regularly in order to make further recommendations as per its terms of reference.
The report is signed by commission chairman Carmelo Magro and executive secretary Peter Cordina.