On average about 8000 injuries happen each year because people don’t use common sense or good judgment when it comes to using fireworks.  On the other hand, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) states that consumer fireworks—not the large fireworks displays at ballparks and community events—are safer than every, as far as the product goes.  So what gives?  It’s that old human behavior factor raising its ugly head again!

The CPSC is on record as saying that about a third of those injuries are from illegal or home-made fireworks and that those injuries tend to be more severe and require more medical care than those caused by legal fireworks.  (There’s that faulty human behavior!)  And of those injuries caused by legal fireworks, the vast of those injuries majority are not caused by a bad product or product malfunction: misuse by the human was to blame. (Ditto!)

The Alliance to Stop Consumer Fireworks, a 22-member coalition led by the National Fire Protection Association, points out that roughly $20 million in property loss also happens each year from the improper use of consumer fireworks, particularly from bottle rockets and other airborne fireworks.  Those types of fireworks also exact a human toll.  Three-year-old Michael Shannon of Raleigh, North Carolina was killed when he was struck in the head by a legal consumer firework.

I urge you to take steps this holiday weekend, and every holiday weekend, to protect your family from this danger.  I encourage you to forego consumer fireworks and instead attend a public display in your community.  The professionals will do a better job—the booms will be louder and the flashes brighter!—and your family will be safer.  You might even get to know some new friends!