|
James Debono
Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela is refusing to speak to MaltaToday following last week’s revelation that Malta lacks an inspections unit to monitor the safety of fireworks factories on a regular basis.
Instead of replying to this newspaper’s questions on the safety in fireworks factories, the head of Tony Abela’s secretariat Tonio Farrugia phoned to rebuke MaltaToday for being unethical in publishing the content of an email exchange sent by mistake to this newspaper by the army.
MaltaToday learned of this serious lack in the safety infrastructure of the country from an email exchange between the Commander of the Armed Forces Carmel Vassallo, Major Mario Spiteri and Notary Abela which was sent to MaltaToday by mistake by the army itself.
But instead of addressing this serious issue Tony Abela has taken offence at the fact that MaltaToday published the contents of the email exchange.
“Tony Abela does not want to speak to MaltaToday because it has an agenda against him,” Farrugia said.
The government has chosen silence in the wake of the revelations made in this newspaper a few days after a fireworks factory explosion accident in Haz Zebbug left two people dead.
The law states that no person shall enter into any fireworks factory to handle fireworks unless he carries with him the licence which he shall produce to an authorised inspector on demand.
But considering the lack of regular inspections, it is difficult to enforce this part of the law because apart from the annual inspections carried out by the Civil Protection Department, there is no government body equipped to carry out spot checks on fire works factories.
In the public interest, MaltaToday published the contents of the original reply drafted by Major Mario Spiteri of the explosives committee according to which the “explosives committee is not in any way equipped to carry out inspections on a regular basis.”
Major Spiteri also wrote that the committee has long been requesting for an inspection unit to be set up.
“This unit, which could be made up from members of the Police, the AFM and the CPD, would have the appropriate personnel with knowledge of fireworks and with the required set-up to be able to carry out regular inspections and to also be able to act on its findings."
On Wednesday, MaltaToday sent questions to Tony Abela on what steps are being taken by the government to ensure regular inspections on fire works factories. Apart from Tonio Farrugia’s rebuke, no answer has been forthcoming.
MaltaToday had also sent the same questions to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Commissioner of Police. No answer has been forthcoming despite the seriousness of this issue.
Another major security concern is the potential risk of accidents in fireworks factories to civil aviation. Aircraft enthusiasts have contacted MaltaToday to express their concern on the presence of at least five factories in the vicinity of the airport, namely the two factories in Gudja, the La Stella factory and the Qormi factory.
According to a spokesperson for the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications, responsible for civil aviation, applications to erect a fireworks factory has to be submitted to the Department of Civil Aviation for comments. Such applications are assessed by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, in consultation with Malta International Airport and the Malta Air Traffic Services, the air traffic services provider respectively.
Applicants may also be asked to submit a risk assessment report.
Operations carried out within firework factories are regulated by the Explosives Ordinance which is designed to minimise the risks of catastrophic explosions.
This includes limitations on the amount of stored explosives. In addition the design of the factory site has to be such that in the event of an explosion the blast is dissipated laterally and its effects contained.
According to the same spokesperson “under these conditions the threat to aviation is therefore minimal.”
jdebono@newsworksltd.com
|
