One fateful night, Mark lit three sparklers for his
young children when they flared up and he suffered severe burns to his left
hand.
I always thought that sparklers were pretty harmless, but as I lit these
three together there was a big flash and the flame spread all over my hand
and parts of my leg. I had to go to hospital to be treated and I was in pain
for many days afterwards.
A local trading standards lead officer for safety was alerted to the
incident and was sympathetic to Mark’s case, acknowledging that people tend
to think sparklers belong in a different league to ‘real’ fireworks. This
was especially dangerous thinking because they are such a big favourite with
young children.
British safety standards currently stating that sparklers should be ‘lit
singly’ is not enough to alert parents to the potential danger of lighting
them in a bunch, even though there is nothing wrong with the firework
itself. There should be more visible and explicit hazard warnings on packets
of sparklers as there are on all fireworks. We in trading standards have
asked BERR to review the situation.
