Firecracker shops resume operations as DOLE lifts halt order

More than 300 firecracker factories and stores resumed their operations after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) lifted the work stoppage order it issued early this month.

The 331 factories and stores are mostly in Negros Island and Region 7.

DOLE said the establishments had complied with the government’s occupational safety and health standards.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has said a total of 824 establishments are now compliant, including the 331 that have resumed their operations.

The compliant establishments were given a clearance by the Philippine National Police; fire safety inspection certificate from the Bureau of Fire Protection, and certificate of attendance of workers to the safety awareness training from the Occupational Safety and Health Center.

Last Nov. 24, the DOLE issued a work stoppage order against fireworks establishments following incidents of explosion in Bulacan where five were killed and 30 were injured./rga