Those employed in China's fireworks industry should be trained
by local departments to reduce the risks of accidents, the
country's safety watchdog has urged.
The State Administration of Work Safety said that as the Chinese
lunar New Year draws near, the peak season for the sale of
fireworks will arrive. Most of those employed in the industry are
rural migrants and lack knowledge of safety.
Plants manufacturing fireworks should complete their training
before the end of December and workers responsible for carrying out
potentially dangerous procedures pass an examination, stated the
administration.
They'll launch a nationwide inspection on safety training in
December. Plants not meeting the requirement would have their
production licenses withdrawn.?
China has approximately 7,000 firework manufacturing plants and
140,000 distributors. About 1.5 million people work in the
industry. On the average the country annually reports 406 accidents
and 445 deaths caused by fireworks.
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)