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Atlas Glass Stress the Importance of Using Safety Glass

Friday 30 November 2018, 9:02PM

By Beckie Wright

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Safety glass is glass with additional safety features that make it less likely to break, or less likely to pose a threat when broken. Common designs include toughened glass (also known as tempered glass), laminated glass, wire mesh glass (also known as wired glass) and engraved glass.

Toughened glass is processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering, by design, creates balanced internal stresses which causes the glass sheet, when broken, to crumble into small granular chunks of similar size and shape instead of splintering into random, jagged shards. The granular chunks are less likely to cause injury.

As a result of its safety and strength, tempered glass is used in a variety of demanding applications, including passenger vehicle windows, shower doors, architectural glass doors and tables, refrigerator trays, as a component of bulletproof glass, for diving masks, and various types of plates and cookware

A glass installation professional can accurately advise you when you need to use safety glass in your home.

Atlas Glass also stress that glass must have safety stamps, so that it can be identified as safety glass. Laminated glass used as safety glass in buildings or as automotive glazing must be marked with permanent identification. Permanent marking is to assist inspectors checking glazing compliance with building code or motor vehicle standards. The layout and information on permanent identification marks is determined by the relevant standard.

Safety glass is required by the building code for glass in any door, glass in the bathroom or glass shower doors or bathtub enclosures, glass in fixed or operable panels next to a door and glass used in swimming or spa pool areas.

Glass in walls enclosing stairway landings

For more information on retrofit double glazing, double hung windows and timber joinery please go to http://www.atlasglass.co.nz .