Last month's fire at the Chufeng Firecracker Factory in Tung-hsiao, Miaoli County, killed five and injured 14. The explosions were heard 25km away and even triggered a forest fire. The shock was considered to be more severe than that of the 921 earthquake. Yet Chufeng is a legal firecracker factory, subject to strict examination by many government agencies. Despite tight controls, a disaster still happened. This tragedy is not unprecedented. If we do not take action, it definitely will not be the last one.
Several explosions of this kind happen every year. In the past five years, there have been 11 explosions at firecracker factories, causing 22 deaths and 37 injuries. These incidents have exhausted our firefighters, police officers and labor authorities. Although news of the explosions was always highlighted in headlines, the government has never really faced the problem and tried to prevent such accidents. It is strange and lamentable that the authorities concerned do not heed the warnings.
According to statistics compiled by labor inspection agencies, there are only 20 legal firecracker factories in the country. Three, however, have stopped production. Facilities and production procedures at these legal firecracker factories are strictly regulated by law. They undergo examination at least once a month and full assessment twice a year.
In view of the strict standards and inspection, owners of these legal factories are always careful, so they suffer fewer accidents. Illegal firecracker factories are the ones that are hard to control.
The small number of legal firecracker factories can barely handle the demand at times of festivals and memorial holidays. Lunar New Year and October, in particular, remain the hot seasons for firecrackers. So legal factories often outsource work to illegal ones. Since it is not difficult to make firecrackers or obtain the material, a lot of illegal factories spring up in warehouses, in old empty houses, deserted factories, barns and pig pens. The secret operations at these locations are hard to detect.
Most people working at the illegal factories are uneducated old men and women as well as temporary workers and farmers, during less busy farming seasons. Lacking professional knowledge and training, they are unaware of the dangers they can encounter in the production process. On top of that, the facilities and equipment in illegal factories are usually simple and crude, which increase the possibility of accidents.
It would be a miracle if someone works in one of those illegal firecracker factories for 10 years and is still alive.
In two reports on workplace hazards, I have read about a family that made firecrackers illegally in southern Taiwan. After a fire destroyed their factory, they moved to the north and continued their business. There they had another explosion, so they moved operations to central Taiwan. There was explosion at their third factory, which killed the entire family.
The illegal factories have to be eradicated; otherwise deaths caused by these workplace disasters will surge every year.
Even legal firecracker factories report accidents, 88 percent of which result from negligence. In addition, legal factories are obliged to take over confiscated illegal firecrackers, semifinished products and raw materials and are responsible for their temporary storage. Mismanagement and careless storage of these materials can easily lead to disasters.
Eradicating illegal firecracker factories should not be difficult. All the government has to do is to strictly implement the following:
First, the government should require directors of villages and boroughs, police officers and fire brigades to closely survey the areas under their supervision and report any suspicious signs of possible illegal firecracker manufacturing. Labor inspection agencies and fire stations can then be mobilized to get rid of the illegal factories.
Second, the government should monitor the flow of semi-finished products from legal factories. Any materials being sent to illegal factories should be confiscated. Legal manufacturers who subcontract work to illegal factories should be punished by having their licenses revoked.
Third, the government should establish or subsidize sites in two or three counties where safe storage places for confiscated explosives and flammables could be established. Private factories should not be asked to take care of these dangerous items.
However, the most fundamental method is to ban the production of firecrackers. Firecrackers do not have economic value, only entertainment value. The social cost and damage incurred in explosions at firecracker factories outweigh the minimal production value of the industry. In view of Taiwan's economic development, we really do not need this kind of industry.
The government can help the legal factories transform themselves into firecracker importers. They can import "safe firecrackers" to satisfy the market.
Environmental protection authorities in many cities have prohibited the use of firecrackers. Such measures can be expanded gradually. People should be encouraged to play tapes or recordings of firecrackers at festivals, which have the same effect as real firecrackers. Government agencies can produce these tapes for the use of the public.
I used to be in charge of labor affairs. I have formally suggested many times that the government ban the production of firecrackers. At a time when the horrifying sight of the explosion at Chufeng Firecracker Factory is still fresh in people's minds, I'd like call for a ban on the manufacture of firecrackers as soon as possible.
Huang Kuei-nan is deputy commissioner of Chiayi County and former director-general of the Bureau of Labor Insurance.
Translated by Jennie Shih
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