Those employed in China's fireworks industry should be trained by local departments to reduce the risks of accidents, the country's safety watchdog has urged.

The State Administration of Work Safety said that as the Chinese lunar New Year draws near, the peak season for the sale of fireworks will arrive. Most of those employed in the industry are rural migrants and lack knowledge of safety.

Plants manufacturing fireworks should complete their training before the end of December and workers responsible for carrying out potentially dangerous procedures pass an examination, stated the administration.

They'll launch a nationwide inspection on safety training in December. Plants not meeting the requirement would have their production licenses withdrawn.?

China has approximately 7,000 firework manufacturing plants and 140,000 distributors. About 1.5 million people work in the industry. On the average the country annually reports 406 accidents and 445 deaths caused by fireworks.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)