Written evidence submitted by H Austin (FWS0301)

• I do not think the current laws on fireworks are well enforced.
• Fireworks available to the general public are loud enough to damage human hearing.
• Fireworks are let off so often there is no way to avoid them (or keep pets in).

I shall start by telling you a little about my disability: I have a condition called Hyperacusis, this means that any sound above a quiet speaking voice is painful to me and causes horrendous headaches that last for days or weeks at a time (which, unfortunately, make me even more sensitive to sound) this is all due to an accidental head-injury.

I have looked up the rules on public firework use (http://www.firework-review.org.uk/firework-laws-regulations/) and found that there were things I did not know; if I don’t know them why do we assume that the general public knows them?
I found out a few years ago that it is illegal for someone to let off a firework in a public place on the occasion that my neighbours decided to let off fireworks in the street outside my house; I was sure that this wasn’t right, but had to look it up to find out. After we called the police it took them 45 minutes to arrive so the firework lovers had long gone (because the fireworks were let off so close to my home I was in a lot of pain afterwards).

People need to be made aware of what the rules are currently and they need to be enforced effectively, it is not unusual to see 14 or 15-year-olds running around with fireworks in my town.
How are they accessing them, are shop-keepers being diligent in checking ages when fireworks are bought or is someone doing it for them? If an older person has supplied them to under 18s think they should be in trouble too.
I think that advertising fireworks on the outside of a shop should be stopped, it brings temptation to teenagers to try to buy fireworks illegally, I also think retailers should not be able to discount their sales prices on fireworks.

In the rules on the website (linked to above) it states that the maximum decibels a consumer-bought firework may be is 120db- this seems to me to be an extremely loud sound, in fact if a firework is let off near me when I have no hearing protection, I’m likely to collapse from pain. (By hearing protection I mean: earplugs- which only cut out some noise and cause me another headache, or ear defenders which I cannot wear , they might cut out more noise but the headache I get from them is extremely painful, noise cancelling headphones are designed for low frequency continuous sound so don’t work well against fireworks- more information can be found here: https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/content/entry/6549/the-limits-of-noise-cancelling-headphones-for-professional-use)

But it’s not just me who could be in trouble from these “normal” 120bd sound levels- the World Health Organisation have a chart of recommended noise dose exposure levels (which can be found here: https://www.noisehelp.com/noise-dose.html ) and for 118db the maximum dose for one day is a lowly 14 seconds, but for 121db the maximum dose for one day is only 7 SECONDS! That’s not as many fireworks as one might think!

The other problem with fireworks this loud in the genral public’s hands is that you never know when they are going to be let off. Where I live the firework season starts in mid-October, and runs until the new year. During the, ever lengthening, season there are normally 1 or 2 fireworks per evening and at weekends it is common to have several hours on-and-off. This prevents me from leaving the house after dark as I know I am likely to be caused pain; I feel extremely sorry for those animals (domesticated and wild) who do not know what is happening- at least it makes sense to me so I can stay relaxed despite the pain.

Personally, I would like to see:

• a reduction in the sound levels acceptable in fireworks for personal use (if not a total ban for private use),
• a greater priority placed on enforcing the current legislation,
• an emphasis on people going to public displays over private ones, plus
• the onus placed on public displays to make everyone in their locale aware of when displays are happening, I know when our large local charity display will happen but it appears that pubs and restaurants hold their own and don’t let their neighbours know in advance.

April 2019