Explaining the policy impact of the 1991 and the 2000 firework blasts in the Netherlands by the core of five policy change models

In the autumn of 2004 the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment (VROM) funded a project of ours that examined the aftermath of the firework disaster that occurred in Enschede in 2000. Our principal conclusion was that the situation regarding legal fireworks had become considerably safer in the period 2000-2005, throughout the entire process chain, comprising manufacture, import, transport, storage and the use of fireworks. A significant side-effect occurred, however, that occasioned the second main conclusion: The policy in respect of recognized firework companies is so harsh as to have created a significant incentive for illegality and criminality. This gives reason to doubt whether, on balance, matters have indeed become safer.