Mumsnet jury needed. Amateur making fireworks and explosives at home with young baby there. Ok or Not???

[FireworkFury]

i really need some help here,

i am a reg with a name change,

xp is making/using/testing fireworks,

after our split i found out he had been doing it in secret at home, i was livid,

he has continued even though i had asked him to stop,

it is dangerous, stupid and to him exciting irresponsible,

he buys chemicals on line (some toxic) and them 'makes' them in his flat,

i am worried about the safety of my baby,

she only stays over once a week,

am i being pfb about this?

he says he knows what he is doing, i dont want to stop contact, i am glad she sees her dad, it is the explosive thing that concerns me,

would you allow this to happen?

FF: As I said, get some advice from people who know about making pyrotechnics as to whether what he is doing is reasonable or risky. Because some of the advice you are going to get on here is going to be from people who think that sparklers should be banned.

thats just it solid,

i have and it seems he is pushing it,

but where i go from here is a tough one,

like i say, i do not want to stop contact,

i am not an arsey ex, he loves her, she loves him,

i have only one problem, the chemicals,

some of which, after research, are infact toxic.

if he jumped out of planes, did deep sea diving, handglided etc i would be more than happy,

the risk to my dd would be zero,

at the moment i see the assessed/agreed/thought of risk (on his behalf) at more than zero,

this i have a problem with...

OK, so ask the pyro-experts how they would deal with someone being reckless with the stuff ie getting the person reported/stopped without the risk of the person being banged up on terrorism charges or suchlike.

It is illegal!!!

You need a licence to manufacture fireworks!

www.hse.gov.uk/explosives/information/licencereg.htm

Report him, he could blow himself, his neighbours and your DD sky high.

It's not quite clear what you're asking, but the number's somewhat irrelevant: 1 can kill, whether by direct contact or by sending the house up.

Of course this is a risk with anything from sparklers to a bumper box of bangers, but we're talking about manufacture on top of storage and transportation here, for which he clearly hasn't done a risk assessment if they're "not boxed and transported across town on the back of a car". This is not someone who knows what they're doing.

When safety has been an issue, members of my community have:

a) had a short, quiet word

b) or a long, loud word if that hasn't worked

c) and if that also hasn't worked, some have been known to take the materials themselves to somewhere they cannot be a danger to the public

d) and if all else fails, refused to work with them

Unfortunately, too many people choose to get involved in pyro just for the cool and damn the consequences. When there's no telling those people, we have to resort to reporting them, unless it really warrants the first resort as I feel this case does.

As you can see, etiquette isn't really a priority over safety!
Anyone who has had a problem with it can answer to the majority who don't want everything shut down due to the minority, so as you can see, I do acknowledge that it is thankfully rare, but when this kind of foolishness does happen, it needs nipping in the bud immediately.

You're not in those circles yourself though and even if you were, it could be the kind which either wants to root out anyone who will give then a bad name, or the opposite which closes ranks.
If you're not going to report it, do you happen to know any firemen informally who could have that "quiet word" off the record, IYSWIM?