Security and Safety Glass

Safety legislation now stipulates critical areas where modern safety glazing must comply with the required safe practice. Innovations in safety and security glass now ensures people can be protected from personal injury, and buildings can be protected from various forms of attack.

Pro offers a comprehensive range of performance glass products. From security to fire resistance, glass can be used to protect people in homes and offices, from accidental injury or protection against forced entry by criminals.

Defining “Safety” & “Security”

For the purposes of clarity:

• The term “Safety” is applied to glazing used to reduce the risk of accident by impact, fracture, shattering, or in a fire.
• The term “Security” is applied to glazing, which in addition to “Safety”, is able to withstand a variety of deliberate attacks such as manual, ballistic or blast.

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Laminated glass

Laminated glass offers greater protection for people and properties over other glass products. The standard two – ply construction provides resistance to penetration when subjected to attempted forced entry. In multiple configurations, laminated glass can even resist bullets, heavy objects, or small explosions.

Two or more panes of glass are bonded together by a durable plastic interlayer, which enables the glass to strongly resist penetration by impacting objects. However, if it should break, the glass will tend to remain in its frame, minimizing the risk of injury from sharp edges and flying or falling glass particles.

By keeping the glass intact within the frame, laminated glass helps reduce injuries from large shards of flying glass caused by, for example hurricanes, earthquakes or other unusual loading on the glass.

Learn more about laminated safety glass.

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Toughened glass

Toughened glass, also known as tempered glass, is  a type of safety glass created through a process of chemical or controlled thermal treatments. This process gives the glass far more strength than normal glass by compressing the outer and inner surfaces into tension. Toughened glass is more resistant to thermal shock, making it ideal for use in architectural applications where there is unfavourable shading.

When this type of glass is broken, it crumbles into small granular chunks. It doesn’t splinter or create jagged shards like plate glass does. These granular chunks are preferred because they are less likely to cause injuries.

Learn more about toughened safety glass.

Typical applications

Because of its strength and safety features, laminated glass is preferred when any of the following are required:

• Where there is the possibility of impact
• Protection against bombs or other explosions
• Protection against forced entry\
• Glass floors or stairs
• Commercial buildings and public spaces
• Homes with children

Features & Benefits

• Provides impact or impact and penetration resistance
• Protects people from accidental injury, or deliberate attack
• Protection from fallout of broken glass from building facades
• Protection from “smash and grab” thefts from storefront window displays
• Bullet resistance
• Impact resistance
• Sound reduction

Options

• Laminated Safety Glass – 6.38mm and 8.38mm
• High Penetration Resistant (HPR) – 6.76mm and 8.76mm
• High Impact (HI) – 7.14mm and 9.14mm
• Bullet Resistant Glass (BRG) – 28mm to 54mm.
• Toughened Safety Glass range
• Armourlam
• Wired glass
• Combinations – Toughened and laminated safety glass can be combined with other double glazing windows such as decorative, easy clean, thermal insulation and solar protection glass within the same double glazing window.

Note: Using the right type of glass for security applications is not enough to ensure the necessary resistance to severe loads. Since the glass can behave differently in different framing systems, it is imperative to combine high performance glazing with high quality framing systems to achieve the level of protection required.

For more advice on energy-saving glass for your building project contact our friendly sales staff today.

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Related info:

• Glass options
• Fire rated glass
• Bullet resistant glass