Fireworks Safety Tips: Don't Blow Off Your Hand - 10 Ways to Stay Safe With Fireworks

July 01, 2011

With July 4 fast approaching, MSNBC reports that heavy drought and wildfires burning in parts of Florida have caused many affected counties and cities to ban the use of fireworks.

Florida Division of Forestry Annaleasa Winter says, "It only takes one spark to ignite a blazing wildfire that could threaten your home and, possibly, your whole neighborhood. The risk is just too great," as News 4 Jax reports regarding similar drought and wildfires last year in Florida.

2011 is no different.

But, like every July 4 holiday, you're going to get together with friends and enjoy fireworks anyway - whether they're illegal or not, whether there's a ban or not - and every year scores of people throughout Florida and the nation show up in emergency rooms with serious injuries that range from burns to eye injuries.

If you happen to get injured, due to someone else's negligence, contact a Miami personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal options.

So here are 10 Fireworks Safety Tips to keep both your body parts and your environment safe (brought to you by American Medical Response):

1. Regard things used to spark flame - matches, lighters, etc. - as tools rather than toys
2. Don't point fireworks at other people
3. Don't shoot off fireworks near buildings, homes or power lines
4. If there's a dud, don't try to pick it up and relight it - this is a sure way to blow off your hand
5. Stay far enough away from fireworks staging areas
6. Use safety glasses as an added precaution - it can't hurt
7. Don't leave used fireworks lying around, throw them away, and wait till they're cool to the touch
8. Supervise use of fireworks when children are around
9. Don't make your own fireworks because they're less reliable
10. Don't put a body part over a firework - a hand, arm, finger, whatever - after the firework has been lit

You might have a claim against the provider of fireworks, be it the city or county, if you are injured during a fireworks show, or if you are injured on someone else's property. You might also have a defective products claim against the manufacturer if the firework does not operate as designed. But if you blow your own hand off trying to relight a dud, you might not have anyone else to blame besides yourself, and you can't get your hand back.

So remember to be careful and use common sense this July 4.

Ferrer Shane, PL, is a Miami personal injury law firm, that represents accident victims throughout south Florida. For more information about their law firm, visit their Web site, http://www.ferrerlaw.com/ .