Firework-related eye injury in the UK

Sir,

The recent article by Knox et al¹ on ocular injury from fireworks highlights an important public health problem in the UK. According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), new fireworks legislation introduced in Britain in 1997 and 2004 were designed ‘to help make fireworks safer to use’.² Much of the new legislation is aimed at the prevention of firework injuries in public places, and DTI statistics show a decrease in the proportion of firework injuries sustained in a public place from 49% in 1997 to 41% in 2005. However, DTI statistics for firework injuries also show an overall upward trend in the years 1997–2005³ (Figure 1). This is true for both the overall injury rate and the rate of ocular injury, which accounted for 27% of the injuries in this period. Appropriate public health interventions have been proved to be successful in reducing the rate of eye injury from various other causes such as road traffic accidents⁴ and contact sport.⁵ The authors mention the ‘strict legislation regarding the use of fireworks in public areas in the UK’. The majority of firework-related injuries are now sustained in the private/domestic setting. Perhaps, it is time to reopen the debate on stricter legislation regarding the domestic use of fireworks.

Figure 1

Number of firework-related injuries seen in the UK from 1997 to 2005. Injuries were counted in the same 4-week period (October–November) each year.³