§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what measures his Department currently takes to ensure that fireworks manufactured abroad and imported into Britain meet British safety standards.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe Health and Safety Executive—HSE—authorises the importation of fireworks only if they comply with British Standard 7114:1988 on firework safety. Also, local trading standards officers use BS7114 as a benchmark, in exercising their powers under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, to ensure that fireworks on sale to the public are safe.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the cost of firework accident advertising and the number of recorded accidents in 1993; and what was the comparable figure for each of the preceding 10 years.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe costs of firework accident prevention work falling on the Department's safety awareness budget and the numbers of fireworks accidents requiring hospital treatment were as follows:
£000 Accidents 1984 35 778 1985 40 968 1986 51 846 1987 78 960 1988 57 877 1989 64 800 1990 111 805 1991 74 723 1992 84 942 1993 160 n/a The firework accident figures cover accidents occurring in the three weeks preceding 5 November and in the week immediately following it. This is the period of availability of fireworks under the voluntary agreement on retail supply with the fireworks industry. The 1993 statistics will not be available until spring 1994.