Tomorrow, the Lower House Committee on Industry will summon the five ministries responsible to discuss how to improve safety at fireworks factories following reports that a facility in Suphan Buri, where a deadly blast that killed 23 people occurred last Wednesday, may have had 500 kilogrammes of explosive materials stored inside.
Top of the agenda will be amending laws to ensure that buildings, where less than 50 people are employed in the manufacturing of fireworks, are still listed as factories so that they are subject to the necessary safety standards.
A space larger than 1,000 square metres, which is separated from the community, is among the regulations the Suphan Buri factory, which employs only 30 workers, was able to skirt. Meanwhile, the interior ministry is also considering passing a law to relocate factories producing explosive items into zoned areas away from the community.
While these ideas are welcome, if not long overdue, law changes alone will not help much. The accident last week and previous similar incidents occurred because law enforcers failed to conduct proper inspections.
Lest we forget, there was a fatal accident at the same factory in Suphan Buri in November 2022, in which one person died. Questions have been asked in public as to how that same factory has been able to continue operating in a similarly risky fashion ever since.
Nevertheless, this is not an isolated case. In July last year, 12 residents were killed and 389 people injured in an explosion at a fireworks warehouse located in the Muno market community in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat. Four officials from Narathiwat's Muno Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO), including its chairman, were charged with malfeasance for failing to inform the government of the illegal fireworks warehouse.
It must be noted that eight years ago, again in Suphan Buri, another six people died in a blast at a house that was illegally producing fireworks.
The biggest question raised is exactly how many fireworks factories there are in total in Thailand. According to the Department of Factories' database, there are only four legally registered fireworks plants in the kingdom. It would barely raise an eyebrow if that number turned out to be far greater.
Little attention has been paid to the use of sodium nitrate and sodium chlorate. Both chemical substances have been used in various industries such as food processing, farming and even for medical purposes. The substances are also staples in fireworks factories.
Potassium chlorate has been used to speed up the longan food production line for many years. None of these chemicals are on the hazardous substances list, requiring a special handling and distribution permit.
In 1999, 36 people were killed and 200 houses damaged in one of the deadliest such explosions in San Sai district of Chiang Mai province, while last November, three more were killed in a blast at a similar longan orchard, again in Chiang Mai when a labourer unknowingly mixed potassium chlorate with other chemicals to produce fertiliser. The results show that these workers are usually not trained well enough, if at all, in handling highly flammable substances.
The government must address systematic flaws with rigorous and transparent factory inspections, a system to track the use of risky chemicals and, above all, better-trained workers, or it will just be the same story all over again this time next year.