The most recent Consumer Product Safety Commission report found that 14% of fireworks injuries were eye injuries.
The numbers are clear: Fireworks are dangerous. And July 4th is an especially risky time for eye injuries.
Fireworks caused 9 deaths and 11,500 injuries in 2021, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s most recent annual fireworks injury report. Most fireworks injuries happen between mid-June and mid-July.
Fireworks are advertised like toys around the Fourth of July. You may think you know how to handle them safely. But playing with fireworks can blind you or your loved ones.
Have fun, be careful. All users and bystanders should wear eye protection.
Firework Misfires and Malfunctions Can Kill
Most fireworks deaths result from unsafe handling. But even correct use can maim or kill well-meaning, safety-minded individuals. Fireworks can misfire, discharge in the wrong direction or ignite all at once in a massive, uncontrollable explosion.
Simple mistakes, like holding a firework at the wrong angle have killed users and bystanders by launching the explosive in an unexpected direction. Mortar-type firework malfunctions killed two people at separate events in 2021. A quick-match fireworks fuse killed and nearly decapitated one man that year.
Regardless of how careful you are, flaws in equipment and explosives are a leading cause of fireworks injuries and deaths — and more people are harmed every year.
Legal Fireworks May Contain Dangerous Parts
Even legally purchased fireworks can have unsafe — even illegal — contents. This can cause fireworks to malfunction and injure or kill bystanders, despite proper handling.
About one-third of the publicly sold fireworks examined by CPSC’s Office of Compliance and Field Operations in 2021 contained dangerously modified fuses, banned chemicals or unsafe levels of explosive materials.
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