Firework Safety Information for Retailers

If you sell or supply fireworks, there are a number of issues that you need to be aware of:

• Know your duties under the legislation governing the sale and storage of fireworks.  In addition to general responsibilities under health and safety at work and fire safety laws, the key regulations of particular relevance to the storage and sale of fireworks are the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005 (MSER), the Firework Safety Regulations 1997 and the Fireworks Regulations 2004
• You must carry out a risk assessment.  This involves thinking about what might go wrong and harm people– the risk of a fire breaking out, for example - and then what action you must take to ensure that it doesn’t.  The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has produced a checklist to help you carry out a risk assessment and this can be downloaded from their website - http://www.hse.gov.uk/explosives/fireworks/industry.htm.   If you have more than five employees, you must record the risks identified in this assessment and the precautions you have taken to deal with them
• Shops have to register or obtain a licence from their local authority to be allowed to store fireworks for sale. If they aren't registered or licensed, retailers could be fined up to £5,000 or given a prison sentence of up to six months or both
• Unless you have a special licence, you can only sell fireworks during the following periods: from 15 October to 10 November; from 26 December to 31 December; the first day of Chinese New Year and the three days immediately preceding it; and on Diwali and the three days immediately preceding it
• You must display a large notice reminding customers about the law with regard to under age sales and possession.  Fireworks must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18
• It is illegal to sell caps, cracker snaps, novelty matches, party poppers, serpents and ‘throwdowns’ to anyone under the age of 16
• You must only sell fireworks that comply with British Standard BS 7114 and meet certain noise conditions.  They must have BS 7114 printed on the box
• Fireworks must be sold in the manufacturers’ packed sets.  Boxes of fireworks must not be split and sold separately
• Make sure you have business insurance or shop insurance that gives you the right levels of cover

To find out more about carrying out risk assessments and obtain a competitive quote for your shop insurance or small business insurance, contact your chosen Cherrypicked Insurance broker.

Last reviewed 7/11/2011

Source:  Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0

To talk to an expert in your area and get a quote, contact your local insurance broker.