Horror as firework joke goes wrong

Published on Wednesday 8 November 2006 13:45

A STREET sweeper has had much of his hand blown off by an exploding firework after a prank at a council depot went horribly wrong.

The man is understood to have been attempting to scare colleagues at the city's Seafield cleansing depot but failed to let go of the firework before it exploded.

Ambulance crews rushed the man to the serious burns unit at St John's Hospital in Livingston. Insiders said a number of the workers who witnessed the accident were physically sick and later sent home. The firework was reportedly one of a number collected yesterday morning from the Meadowbank area and taken back to the cleansing depot at Fillyside Road.

The accident happened at around 1pm yesterday when the man

reportedly attempted to throw the firework under roller-shutter doors to scare colleagues in a garage.

However, he failed to let it go quickly enough before it went off.

Colleagues named the injured man as 44-year-old Peter Jamieson.

He has worked for the city's cleansing department for more than 20 years and is understood to come from Musselburgh.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said the injured man lost three fingers and a thumb in the accident.

One worker who was in the depot at the time of the accident, but asked not to be named, said: "It has been a big shock for everyone who saw it.

"There was a bit of horseplay going on with people pretending to set off the fireworks and the like but this was just awful.

"The fireworks were not the ones you could buy from the shops or anything, they were proper industrial-sized ones so I'm not surprised he was injured as badly as he was."

A city council spokeswoman said: "A member of our street cleansing staff was involved in an incident with a firework yesterday. The person is currently being treated in hospital.

"There is a full investigation into the incident under way. It is of the utmost importance to the council that employees are safe in their jobs at all times.

"We take all practical steps to reinforce good practice in workplace health and safety in every department."