Fireworks to come with safety instructions
- Source: Global Times
- [02:00 January 12 2010]
- Comments
A police officer shows primary school students in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province the proper way to set off fireworks. Police initiated the program to encourage safe habits ahead of the Lunar New Year. Photo: Xinhua
By An Baijie
Two State agencies unveiled new safety requirements for manufacturers of fireworks that would require warning labels on their products, among other things.
The new rules, released Sunday, will be effective on July 1. They're intended to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries from fireworks.
The Standardization Administration and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued the rules jointly. They said that fireworks producers must put warnings on wrappers such as "don't set off after drinking," and "not allowed to set off near tall buildings and densely populated residential neighborhoods," according to the Beijing Times.
More than 40 percent of fires that occurred during the Spring Festival were blamed on improper use of fireworks or caused by deficient fireworks, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
Fireworks caused more than 1,680 fires nationwide during the Spring Festival in 2009, and lives were taken. Also 1,857 people were injured.
The nearly completed 30-story China Central Television (CCTV) tower caught fire and was destroyed after some employees set off celebratory firecrackers without permission on February 29, 2009. One firefighter died in the accident.
