Safety is an extremely important part of pyrotechnics. If you are not careful, you can easily get hurt or killed. Not only is it not fun to get blown up or blow you house or something, it screws over other pyros also. For example: Little Timmy blows off his fingers playing with an M-80. Timmy's mom now thinks that all fireworks are very dangerous now (even though m80s are not classified as fireworks, they are too powerful) and goes to Bubba the Mayor. She gets a big group of other paranoid people to lobby to get fireworks banned. No more fireworks! That sucks! Not only does it restrict legal fireworks, but also people pay more attention to other explosives. This kind of thing happens all the time. Don't give them any anti pyro "ammo", be safe!

Working Safety

• Keep your work area clean
  
• Wear cotton - it doesn't make static like synthetic and wont melt into your skin in the case of an accidental ignition.
  
• Don't work around anything that could make sparks - some motors, thermostats, etc. can make sparks
  
• Don't smoke! - Not only is smoking stupid in the first place, smoking around pyrotechnics is suicidal!
  
• Don't use tools that could spark (Smashing metal on metal is bad! Metal on plastic is ok)- steel, iron etc.
  
• Don't grind mixtures - Most mixtures like black powder are not that sensitive, but anything containing metal powders or chlorates should never be ground.
  
• Wear eye protection at all times - you can't grow new eyes!
  
• Store things safely - preferably in a BATF certified magazine, don't put powders in glass jars!
  
• Wear gloves - some chemicals are toxic, use rubber or latex gloves. For non-toxic, use heavy cotton to help prevent burns from accidentally ignited powders.
  
• Dust masks and respirators are good - some things are not healthy to breathe!

Usage Safety

• Wear eye protection!
  
• Have adequate delay on devices to be a safe distance away when it goes off.
  
• Do not light piles of powder with a match or lighter, use a delay! I've seen many stories of people lighting piles of powder like that and getting serious burns on hands. If the amount of powder is more than you would want going off in your hand (which is any at all!), use a delay, or with very small amounts of powder, something like those foot-long matches to give you some distance.
  
• Don't go near a dud soon after failure. The fuse could still be burning or smouldering and go off at any time. Wait at least several mintues before going near a dud.
  
• Don't use homemade fuses unless you have a lot of experience with them.

Most importantly: USE COMMON SENSE!

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