Working toward safety

Two employees of the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory test fireworks at a factory in Liuyang, Hunan province, on Dec 11. [Photo/China Daily]

A worker loads a bunch of firecrakers with black powder at a fireworks factory in Chenzhou, Hunan, on Dec 12. [Photo/China Daily]

One major hazard is the fact many machines on the market have no safety certification.

At Yongxing Gaoting Gaotang, a small firecracker factory beside a graveyard in a county neighboring Yizhang, boss Li Wushan visibly jumped when asked if the area had suffered any explosions. "We don't talk about that here. It's a bad omen," he said.

Yet, when it came to the topic of his machines passing quality tests, he added: "Even machines used in larger factories don't have safety certificates."

Despite the dangers, Zhao Jiayu, a professor of pyrotechnics chemistry at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said he believes the development of new technology is a key to modernizing this traditional industry and decreasing the number of casualties.

The industry will only be safe "when workers are operating machines from another room with a switch", said Zhao, who is also a member of the National Standardization Technology Committee of Fireworks and Firecrackers. "That way, the damage caused by an explosion is limited."

Under the central government's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), researchers also received State funds to explore safer fireworks knitting machines and explosives.

Compared to the outlawed home workshops, experts agree that registered factories are safer working environments for villagers. However, there is still a long way to go before the industry is "accident-free", said Yang Zhen, secretary of the politics and law committee in Yizhang's Yanquan town, the official in charge of production safety.

"Every time my cell phone rings after 10pm, I know there must be something wrong," he said, adding that daily checks are carried out to ensure businesses are not neglecting safety for profit.

He recalled that, before the crackdown on family-run workshops, it was common to find villagers' homes littered with fuses and half-finished firecrackers. "One villager's workshop was right next to his kitchen," he said.

Today, the vast majority works in larger, registered factories, which are required to meet certain safety standards. However, the industry also needs good management and training to reduce incidents of malpractice.

Bad management, according to data from the State Administration of Work Safety, causes more than 80 percent of work-related accidents, including those at fireworks factories.

In August last year, 33 people were killed in a blast at a plant in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. Authorities discovered the company was attempting to produce large aerial fireworks instead of the firecrackers it was approved to make.

On Nov 24, an explosion destroyed three buildings at Fuguishan Fireworks Factory in Chengde, Hebei province, killing six people and injuring 10 others. Three days later in Zhoukou, Henan province, six more died when eight buildings collapsed at Dawuzhuang Fireworks Factory. Separate investigations proved both incidents were due to overloading explosives and poor storage practices.

Safety regulations state that workers inserting fuses can store a maximum of only six packs of loaded firecrackers in the room with them. Once finished, the packs must be transferred to another room. Many factories have large signs on walls that remind employees to transfer the products frequently and safely. Yet the rule is often ignored.

"Workers will pile more packs in the room to save walking time," said engineer and safety expert Li Guoyu as he watched workers at Feilong carry packs of firecrackers. "Just 40 packs of half-finished firecrackers are enough to destroy an entire building."

Town safety official Yang also revealed that some businesses are still outsourcing work to family workshops.

"It's cold in winter, and if one villager uses a heater while making firecrackers it could be an unimaginable disaster," he said, adding that his job not only involves inspecting 39 firecracker factories, but also searching for illegal workshops that open during peak times. "People who make firecrackers at home still make a bit more money than those working for factories," he said.

Battling against illegal workshops is not easy when fireworks are a village's pillar industry. Ma Deqing, Party secretary for Shanfeng village in southern Hunan, was killed in 2003 when the firecracker workshop on the second floor of his house exploded. He had started the business to provide jobs for his neighbors.

Yang said he even closed down an illegal firecracker factory opened by his brother. "He was so angry that he dragged me into the room full of firecrackers and said he wanted to die with me," he recalled.

Although the industry does not generate much tax revenue for the Yanquan government, it does benefit villagers by creating employment opportunities, which in turn helps to ensure a lower crime rate, added Yang.