Thousands injured by fireworks every year

If history is any guide, thousands of North Americans are going to be flooding emergency rooms this holiday weekend suffering from self-inflicted fireworks injuries.

Slightly more than 12,000 Americans hurt themselves with fireworks last year, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Roughly two-thirds of those injuries happened in July. And a little more than half of all fireworks injuries last year happened in the three-day stretch corresponding with the long Fourth of July weekend. The injury reports, scribbled down by harried hospital staff, offer a rather dry exploration into human folly.

“46-year-old male was making homemade smoke bombs w/sugar & sodium nitrate & pan ignited.”

“9-year-old female with thermal burns to both legs after a firework was thrown and bounced off a power line.”

“35-year-old male presents firecracker exploding in his left eye about 2 hours ago, feels like something in eye.”

In 2014, a total of11people died from firework mishaps — four victims died in house fires and seven died from “direct impact” of fireworks.

The CPSC’s data shows that most firework injury victims are male. Children younger than 15 account for well over a third of all fireworks injuries. At the population level, the overall rate of fireworks injury hasn’t changed much over the years.

However, the American Pyrotechnics Association, a trade group for the fireworks industry, points out that the overall use of fireworks has become far more common since 1977. Given that the amount of fireworks Americans consume has risen tenfold, the rate of injuries per fireworks consumed has plummeted since the 1970s.

A2012 Politifact investigation notes that this isn’t an accident: Starting in the 1970s, the Consumer Product Safety Commission began setting federal safety standards for fireworks, and in the ‘80s it began inspecting and testing imported fireworks for safety.

The American Pyrotechnics Association notes that falling injury rates have happened as a number of states liberalized their fireworks laws, making more and more explosive and incendiary devices available to consumers. Only three killjoy states now maintain an outright ban: Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Overall the story of firework regulation is largely a successful one: A marriage of broadly permissive policies coupled with smart, enforceable safety standards. Policy-makers working in the realm of other inherently risky goods, like guns and drugs, may want to take note.