Updated Statement: Millennium Square Fireworks & Festive Fair launch

This statement is in addition to earlier statements issued 03/11/16 and 04/11/16 (see below).

Updated information – 15/11/2016

What happened?

The firework which caused the issue is a consumer garden firework, readily available for sale to the public (recommended safety distance 8-15m). If this happened in someone's garden at much closer range, the outcome could have been very different. The events on Thursday highlight that even with extended safety distances in place, sometimes a malfunction can happen.

This sort of occurrence is incredibly rare – and due to a fault that was internal and invisible from the outside. The UK importer was notified and this particular firework was not used in subsequent shows that Matthew worked on during the weekend.

What next?

All of the people affected have been contacted by staff at At-Bristol, with details now passed on to Matthew and Skyburst for resolution. Internal reports have been conducted and the investigation closed, with the following conclusions drawn:

At-Bristol Science Centre 

At-Bristol carried out full risk assessments prior to the event, briefed all event staff and ensured that all staff members were contactable by radio. Preventative measures were also put in place to deal with large crowds attending the event - such as draining the Aquarena water feature to allow extra standing space, and crowd control emergency communications lined up and ready for the Big Screen if needed.

Following the incident, a full review has taken place; At-Bristol has concluded that full measures were taken in terms of the event management. The particular firework incident could not have been predicted or foreseen. Learnings have been taken forward to At-Bristol’s weekly Operations meeting, and Health & Safety group, which include more high-visibility jackets for staff, and increased communications to visitors on site following the nature of the incident.

Skyburst

Matthew has compiled an internal post-show report for Skyburst with recommendations for rooftop firework displays, based on analysis of what happened and post-event discussions with firework colleagues.

For any further information, please contact Skyburst directly - http://skyburst.co.uk/ - 0117 923 1368

Initial statement – 04/11/16

The display went as planned until a fault at the end, which we and the professional firework display company Skyburst are fully investigating. 

At-Bristol takes the safety of its visitors both in venue and in the outside spaces very seriously. The firework display was carried out by a team of trained professionals from Skyburst who knew the site very well and have delivered many similar displays in the past.

All the necessary safety checks were carried out and the display was fully risk assessed prior to the event and on the night. After a post event inspection, Skyburst has identified an unforeseeable manufacturing malfunction which has been reported to the manufacturer and UK importer. 

A statement has been released from Matthew Tosh, one of the team who were onsite which you can see below in full.

We are talking to people who were affected and would encourage anyone who would like to get in touch with us to contact information@at-bristol.org.uk

For any press enquiries please contact press@at-bristol.org.uk

Statement from Matthew Tosh – 04/11/2016:

We are looking into what happened last night as we (the entire team that I work with) take safety extremely seriously. This includes full safety checks before and after every show.

As someone who is passionate about fireworks and safety, the last thing I want to see is anything go wrong during a display.

We are in the business of entertaining people safely. It's a simple as that. To do this requires a huge amount of preparation, risk assessments, even mathematical modelling of where our debris patterns go, knowing the individual products that we are working with and how they perform.

Each firework display is designed using materials specifically suited to each site, taking into account prevailing wind direction, audience location and the surroundings.

Once we are on site, the risk assessment process continues and this includes pre show safety checks to ensure that the fireworks are safe to fire.

We continue to monitor fireworks during and after a show for safety.

Very occasionally, a firework malfunctions, as happened last night and this cannot be foreseen. The fault occurred at the end of the show, and so firing ceased anyway, leaving the already ignited fireworks to finish, as was witnessed.

We do everything we can prior to firing a show to minimise potential problems and, if we have any element of doubt, we do not fire at all. However, if a firework itself goes wrong, it can sometimes even catch the professionals out.

As an industry, we pride ourselves on our attention to detail from planning through to post show evaluations. As a result, we investigate any display issues fully, which is exactly what we are doing in light of the At-Bristol show.

It can appear frightening if you see a firework go wrong. We are constantly reviewing processes to ensure that these kinds of issues do not occur often and are looking into what, if anything, can be learned from last night.