Sparklers as a major hazard for burn injury

doi:10.1016/S0305-4179(96)00128-3

Burns

Volume 23, Issue 4, June 1997, Pages 369-372

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-4179(96)00128-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

Injuries caused by sparklers are a particular hazard for young children. Case reports highlight the potential severity of such injuries and recommendations are made with regard to prevention.

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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (10)

Firework related burn injuries in Australia and New Zealand
2024, Burns Open
Fireworks are commonly used to celebrate holidays and events with potential to impact livelihoods from blast injuries. This study aims to describe and analyse firework related burns in adults across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).
A retrospective review from January 2010 – January 2023 across all ANZ adult burns units. All firework related burn injuries in adults greater than 18 years that attended or were referred to the burns unit were included.
There were 173 patients with a firework related burn injury. The male to female ratio was 4.4:1 with the majority representing a younger age group (18–45 years). Men were significantly more likely to have firework related injuries at home and /or outside than women (49.3 % vs 24.2 %, p = 0.009). There were 29 firecrackers, 44 sparklers, and 99 firework burn injuries with significant differences in proportions between states for sparklers and fireworks. The mean TBSA was 4.3 % with significant differences amongst sex (men 4.7 % vs women 2.0 %, p = 0.042) and amongst states. Adequate first aid was reported higher in men than women (61.4 % vs 42.4 %, p = 0.047). Approximately half the injuries were hands and a third of injuries involved more than one body part. The most frequent type of injury was a full thickness burn (39.6 %), followed by mid dermal (24.1 %) and superficial (23.0 %) respectively.
Firework related burns have distinct patterns of use and injuries amongst men and women with variations across states. Legislation and prevention are cornerstone to reducing the impact of burn related injuries.
Firework injuries: a ten-year study
2009, Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery
Citation Excerpt :
Sparklers caused injury only in one case, a face burn. In the UK,10 sparkler burns have been increasing in number over the years. Stringbombs caused burns in 44% of cases, compared with CLWs (21%), soft tissue loss (16%) and bony injuries (19%).
Fireworks are used worldwide to celebrate popular events (e.g. festivals, official celebrations, weddings). The festival of lights (Diwali) is celebrated with fireworks in India. During this period, many patients from all age groups present to hospital with injuries due to fireworks. Prevalence, period of occurrence, sex and age variation, adult supervision, causative fireworks, mode of lighting, age groups prone to injury, patterns of injury caused by individual fireworks, and the body parts injured were studied. One hundred and fifty-seven cases (92 retrospective, 65 prospective) with injury due to fireworks presenting to the Department of Plastic Surgery at KEM Hospital between 1997 and 2006 were studied.
The prevalence of injuries has decreased steadily over the last 10 years (41 cases in 1997, 3 cases in 2006). The maximum number of injuries (35%) was seen in the age group 5–14 years; 92% of these children were unsupervised. The commonest cause of injury was firework misuse (41% of cases), followed by device failure (35%). Device failure was commonest with flares/fountains (ground firework emitting sparks upwards) and aerial devices. Flare/fountains caused most injury (39%), sparklers the least (0.6%). Flare/fountains, ground spinners, sparklers, and gunpowder (explosive material from cracker, obtained by tearing paper wrapper and obtaining chemicals) caused only soft tissue burns; stringbombs (high-intensity fire cracker made by wrapping chemicals with jute strings/coir in layers) and rockets (aerial device that zooms upwards and bursts) caused blast injuries, leading to soft tissue disruption and bony injuries. Emergency surgery was done if indicated: tendon and/or neurovascular repair, fracture fixation, flap cover or amputation. Superficial burns were treated with dressings. Certain wounds needed only thorough cleansing of the wound and primary suturing.
We concluded that, over a 10-year period, the prevalence of firework injury decreased due to increased awareness in the community. Aggressive awareness campaigns by government and non-government organisations was the cause. We can minimise the number and severity of accidents by raising awareness regarding safety precautions, encouraging professional displays and motivating manufacturers to adhere to strict quality control.
Safety preparedness of urban community for New Year fireworks in Tehran
2009, Burns
Citation Excerpt :
For example, sparklers burn at a temperature of >1000 °F [6] and they are commercially available to public. They could lead to severe burn injuries [7]. There are safety instructions provided by “Consumer Product Safety Commission”.
Fireworks are used worldwide during national and cultural celebrations. Iranians celebrate the last Wednesday of the Persian year (ILWEF) as an ancient custom. The aim of this study was to determine safety preparedness of inhabitation in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, for 2007 ILWEF fireworks. In this study, interviewers referred to randomly selected addresses after the end of ILWEF. They asked responders about source of information on how to use firework items and having education of safe use of fireworks. Also people were asked about having first aid kits and fire extinguisher at home. The study included 2475 families. To learn how to use fireworks, 1.3% had read brochures; the remainder of responders obtained their information from miscellaneous sources with unknown validity. Only 1.1% of them have had some sort of education on the safe use of fireworks. According to responders, 98.4% did not have any information about the safety standards of fireworks. We conclude that Tehranian households were not sufficiently prepared to guarantee a safe festival.
It seems safety preparedness of the community to prevent firework related fires and injuries, by relevant education and promotion of fire safety equipments, needs to be reconsidered in Tehran. Considering the impaired safety preparedness of community for fireworks festival, individuals should attend public fireworks displays conducted by professionals rather than engage in personal use of fireworks.
Restriction of the use of fireworks and banning firecrackers lacking appropriate insertions on safety instructions are other solutions to be considered.
Firework related injury and legislation: The epidemiology of firework injuries and the effect of legislation in Northern Ireland
1999, Burns
The efficacy of legislation in reducing firework associated injuries is uncertain as is the nature of the problem within the United Kingdom (UK). In September 1996 the legislation governing firework sale in Northern Ireland was relaxed thus equalling that of the rest of the UK. For the 2 years following the change in legislation we prospectively assessed those patients who were admitted with a firework injury over the Halloween period. We then compared these results with retrospective data for the 3 years prior to the change in firework law. In the pre-legislation series the mean number of patients admitted annually was 0.38 per 100,000 while in the post-legislation series the mean was 0.43 per 100,000. Blast injury to the hand was the commonest injury accounting for 53% of cases in both series. Burn injuries were the second commonest form of injury comprising 30% of all admissions. Of those admitted with a hand injury 47% had at least one finger terminalised and nearly half of those patients admitted with burns (44%) required skin grafting. We conclude that early evidence suggests that liberalisation of the law on firework sale has not resulted in a significant increase in firework related injuries requiring hospital admission.
Horrors of Halloween
1998, Burns
Emergency Department visits due to firework accidents in the Reykjavik capital area from 2010 to 2022
2022, Laeknabladid

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Case reportSparklers as a major hazard for burn injury

Abstract

Burns

Fireworks: advice for a safer Fourth of July

Am Family Physician

Fireworks related injuries. Marion County, Indiana

MMWR

Staying alive

Prevention & Safety Regulation for Fireworks

Ocular fireworks injuries in children

J Paed Ophth Strabismus

Case report
Sparklers as a major hazard for burn injury