Can fireworks-related injuries to children during festivities be prevented?

celebrations (Festival of Lights) during October/November. Fireworks injury studies have found a high incidence among children. In Australia,1 88 % of emergency department attendees with fireworks injuries were under 18 years of age. In the USA, 85 800 children (average age 10.8 years) were treated over a 14-year period.2 In Israel,3 during the Jewish Purim Festival and Arab and Druze Id el-Adha holidays, 53 % of those injured by fireworks were children under the age of 16 years. In New Zealand, 68 % of the injured were children under the age of 15 years.4 The consequences of fireworks injuries, especially among children, are not generally known.5,6 Levitz5 described 10 patients in South Africa under the age of 15 with ocular injuries due to fireworks in Johannesburg over the 1996/1997 New Year period. Despite clear directives from local law enforcement agencies and the identification of specific areas for pyrotechnic displays, legal and illegal discharging of fireworks in public continues to occur. Our objective was to describe the epidemiology, injury pattern and outcome of fireworks-related injuries in children by using a local representative sample referred to a paediatric trauma centre, and to review fireworks-related legislation. Material and methods Children who sustained fireworks-related injuries were identified from the registered trauma admissions to the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town. Fireworks/firecrackers injuries were selected for the New Year period (3 December- 14 January) and the Guy Fawke