THE organisers of last year's ill-fated Glasgow Garden Festival

fireworks display have been cleared of any blame for the explosion which

injured six people, four of them seriously.

The Health and Safety Executive, which carried out a major inquiry

into the incident, confirmed yesterday that it has recommended that no

action be taken against either Glasgow Garden Festival Company Ltd or

the professional organisers of the display. The procurator-fiscal in

Glasgow has complied with the recommendation.

The HSE report into the accident, which occurred during the festival's

finale on September 26, has concluded that there was no breach of the

Health and Safety at Work Act. The accident occurred when the main

charge of an eight-inch diameter shell exploded within its launching

tube on the ground instead of when the shell was high in the air.

Despite many years of testing similar types of fireworks, the

executive said there was no history of incidents when the launching tube

was unable to contain the force of the explosion. Before the Glasgow

accident it was never considered possible that such extensive damage

could occur.

The investigation confirmed that all the precautions set out in the

code of practice for fireworks displays had been observed. However, the

code was meant to be used with types of fireworks normally available to

the public, and not intended for professionally organised displays.

A spokesman for the executive said: ''As a result of the research work

done the HSE has recognised a need for guidance to be developed on the

standards of precautions which should be adopted during professionally

organised displays and work on the production of such guidance is under

consideration.''

One of the organisers, Mr Alastair Macfarlane, of the Shell Shock

Firework Company, lost a leg in the explosion.

Last night he said at his home in Bramfield, Suffolk: ''I've been very

lucky. I've been given a second chance. It was a bit like stepping on a

mine, but the accident was just a chance in a million.

''We never take risks and we are 100% safety conscious. As far as we

were concerned it was a foregone conclusion that there would be no

charges.''

Mr Macfarlane, 38, a father of two, has organised firework displays

all over the world since 1982. ''I'm already doing office work and I'll

be ready to go to events when our season opens in mid-April,'' he said.