Capabilities - Investigation of the Hazards Associated with the Temporary Storage of Fireworks at Retail Premises

While many retailers have appropriate storage for fireworks both outside and inside the retail premises many large retailers hold the fireworks in temporary storage within the premises. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is aware that concern has been expressed about the practice of using supermarket roll cages for the temporary storage of fireworks within some retail premises. HSE commissioned a series of trials to understand the hazards posed by this intermediate storage better.

The test series has investigated roll cages with both 25 and 50 mm wire mesh sides compared to the use of cupboards constructed from faced chipboard or steel.

In the experimental work, a wood fire was placed upwind of the test store. The wooden stack was constructed from 50 mm square timber spaced at 100 mm centres to give a consistent fire source. Alternate layers of wood were placed at right angles to give a stable stack that was approximately a 1m cube. The test store contained a mixture of fireworks selection packs in their transport containers, and additional rockets in their sale packs.

The general layout is shown below:

The trials were recorded and are presented in the following video clips (click to play):

  25mm wire mesh roll cage (4.0MB)

  50mm wire mesh roll cage (5.2MB)

  Wooden stationery cupboard (3.4MB)

  Steel stationery cupboard (2.8MB)

The trials showed that both the roll cages offer little protection to the boxed fireworks. Flames can readily burn away the fibreboard packaging giving an early initiation of the fireworks. The steel and wooden (faced chipboard) cupboards give a greater protection to the fireworks and hence a longer evacuation period in the event of a fire. The wooden cupboard is probably the better option due to the steel cupboard still remaining hot some 24 hours later.

Further work will be undertaken to investigate protective measures that could be applied to roll cages used for this intermediate storage.

  For information about the testing of fireworks against the noise requirements of the Fireworks Regulations 2004, please click here

Further Details
Contact our Business Development Unit by telephone (+44) 01298 218218, fax (+44) 01298 218822 or email hslinfo@hsl.gov.uk.

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