Mixing potassium chlorate, metals prohibited under new fireworks regulations

The use of potassium chlorate in flash mixtures will be prohibited under new fireworks regulations published today in the government gazette.

While mixing potassium chlorate with metals is now illegal, the use of potassium chlorate is not and will continue to be used in the manufacturing of fireworks. The government has decreased the quantity each fireworks factory can have by 150kg to 1,000kg.

For the first time, the law also establishes the insurance policy each fireworks factory - €300,000 - must have during the discharge of fireworks.

The new regulations also specify that the supplier must declare that the raw material (chemicals) conform to the purity levels as established by the Maltese laws.

The new legal notice amending the Explosives Ordinance Act was developed by the Ministry for Home Affairs. According to the ministry’s policy developer Joseph St John, the pyrotechnics lobby, parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon and chemistry expert Professor Alfred Vella were all consulted. Until recently, Falzon was also the pyrotechnics association’s lawyer.

Under the new regulations, licence holders won’t need to attend a refreshers’ course every two years, but every five years.

“Holding a refreshers’ course every two years was a bit excessive, especially since the industry does not evolve as rapidly as to need such immediate courses. Five years is deemed a realistic timeframe,” St John argued.

The regulations also allow licence D holders – an apprenticeship licence – to manufacture fireworks. According to St John, this was already allowed in other sections of the law.

Perhaps the most crucial of the amendments is the banning of mixing potassium chlorate with metals in any flash composition. The first call for the ban was made by Profs Vella who argued that the mixture will prove to be fatal.

Vella’s independent inquiry had found that local firework factories use high volatile chemical mixtures banned in many other countries. In his report, the expert had called for limits to be placed on the amount of potassium perchlorate a factory can use.

The amount has now been revised downwards to 1,000kg from 1,150kg.

Proposed by the pyrotechnics lobby, the new regulations allow for a plastic casing for aerial fireworks which do not exceed 9.5cm in length and 9.5cm in diameter.

“Plastic casing cannot be used for ground or rooftop fireworks and the established sizes ensure that all plastic is burnt,” St John said. The rest of the fireworks’ casing will be cardboard, as usual.

The law is now enforcing the supplier’s duty to declare that imported chemicals conform to the purity levels required under the law of Malta. This is the first time that such a requirement is being included in the Explosives Ordinance Act.

Every fireworks factory must keep a yearly register of the amount of potassium nitrate acquired and the amount of black powder produced; the amount of potassium perchlorate acquired and the amount of flash produced and the amount of potassium chlorate acquired and the amount of star composition produced.

Warning signs close to firework factories should be placed “at a safe distance”.

The ultimate success of the new regulations hinge on enforcement and ultimately, the enforcement is in the hands of the Police Commissioner.

“There are random inspections and the register is just one way to keep track on what the firework factories are using and how they are operating. There is the explosives committee and an inspectorate who ensure compliance, but ultimately it is the Police Commissioner’s responsibility,” St John said.