Still want to hand fire shells?

[»BANGER-BOB]

Take a look at this link and you may change your mind about hand firing.

Page 2 photo is not for the faint hearted so be warned!

THE boss of a fireworks firm, whose assistant was blinded when a display mortar fired into his face at point blank range, has admitted breaching health and safety regulations.

[ianeagles]

Ouch that gotta hurt!!!.

Well obviously not trained to use CAT 4.!!!

With sufficient experience and knowlage then there lies a much less risk of this happening.

Thank god for PIC,

[DannyB]

Originally Posted by ianeagles

Ouch that gotta hurt!!!.

Well obviously not trained to use CAT 4.!!!

With sufficient experience and knowlage then there lies a much less risk of this happening.

Thank god for PIC,

Plus thank God for PPE, Training and first aid. Looking at the injuries not sure what happened, if he'd had a direct hit from the shell lifting he'd have lost his head, flash from it going past wouldn't have done that much damage. At a guess it's a muzzle break or a flower pot, at which point the face shields and/or goggles would have done a fair bit to protect, plus getting fast and effective first aid.

I've always been taught not to have face anywhere near the muzzle when firing, yes it would have hurt if that had happened to me or my crew when hand firing, but I suspect not to anywhere near that level.

Danny

[RocketRev]

So the injured man was out on a commercial display as a "taster session" and had no PPE!
I see the boss pleaded guilty to the charges.

"Firework School" training, including closely supervised experience before ever going near a commercial display is the rule with the company I fire for - as is wearing full PPE. And I'd expect the same with other companies - but apparently not the one reported on in this case.

But having had training and having got good PPE, to answer the question in the title..... yes.


Oh....... and welcome back, Banger-Bob.
Not seen you around for a while. 12 posts in almost exactly 4 years........ might need to send you back to "posting school" to make sure you're up to date withn regard to safe posting practice! Go on, light up a portfire and join in the fun here.


PS.... Danny.... 'twas described as a 5" mortar. Could have been a mine rather than a shell - that might have had the effect described without taking his head off and without it being a flower pot etc.

[Mixologist]

Nice comment from Sue at the bottom, i tried to write one back but then found i had to sign up and gave up at that point.

some people though...

[Bazinga!]

Is it just me or should he have been wearing the minimum of overalls and some goggles, regardless of the category of the firework.

Now don't get me wrong, i feel completely sorry for the bloke and it's obviosuly the owner's fault for using fake documents to buy cat4 product, that's just shockingly worrying, but even so; if i had never fired fireworks before and someone said 'light that explosive when i say go' without any PPE what so ever, i know what my reply would be...

[Andy_P]

No it's not just you.
The whole thing is a classic example of what can go wrong when people ignore the rules.

It really makes my blood boil when so many people object to "bleeding Health and Safety" getting in the way of what they want to do without realising that this sort of thing goes on.

Oh, and yes I do want to carry on hand-firing shells too.

[Arthur]

The more worrying thing is that the HSWA is dated 1974! it's been there since then! There is NO excuse for not knowing.

[»Firework Crazy]

I Cant believe all he gets is a fine! OUTRAGEOUS!

[screwball]

I used to go scuba diving, surfing and skiing, but not any more. I also had to sell my Harley Davidson bike.

if hes only lost the use of 1 eye why carnt he do those anymore ? (i say only i know its not exactly a splinter)

depth of field might be an issue i guess but im sure surfing and suba diving can be done with 1 eye surly