Glass has to be transported, handled, and used in construction with care. Selection of type of glass is essential to avoid accident during normal period and disasters.

1. SAFETY
CONSIDERATIONS FOR
USE OF GLASS IN
BUILDINGS
Usha Batra, Additional DG (Arch), CPWD, New
Delhi
Dr K M Soni, Chief Engineer, CPWD, Mumbai

2. GLASS ON ONE HAND ENHANCES
BEAUTY OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT BUT
RAISES SAFETY CONCERNS ON THE
OTHER HAND

3. 3

4. Glass facade -structural component of building
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5. 5

6. 6

7. GLASS AND BEAUTY
• Glass enhances the beauty of
the building .
• Glass reduces the dead load of
the structure
• One material with many uses -
From entire facade to doors
and windows, floors to
walkways, staircases to domes,
canopies to skylights,
partitions to enclosures,
shelves to table tops and
counter-tops

8. LIVELIER INTERIORS
CONNECTING SPACES AND OUTSIDE
It makes interiors look larger
and livelier by reflecting light,
illuminating surfaces,
connecting spaces and
connecting inside to the
outside.
For confined spaces,
glass is the preferred
solution.

9. GLASS IS A BRITTLE MATERIAL AND
NEEDS TO BE HANDLED WITH CARE.
GLASS CAN CAUSE SEVERE INJURY

10. GLASS A VULNERABLE MATERIAL
Glass is one of the most vulnerable materials for accidents - in
some of the locations in buildings. It may be due to
transportation, cutting, installation, fall, impact, fire and even
during occupancy due to human impact, breakage, disasters
etc.
Therefore, human safety due to glass becomes important
consideration.

11. Glass can break during disasters and broken glass is susceptible to
fall, thus in multi-storeyed structures necessary precautions are to
be taken to avoid brittle failure
GLASS DURING DISASTERS

12. heat strengthened glass
wired glass
BREAK PATTERNS OF DIFFERENT
TYPE OF GLASS
Float Heat strengthened

13. SHATTERED GLASS

14. GUN SHOTS AND BULLET PROOF
GLASS

15. HUMAN SAFETY AND GLASS
• Glass is a material which requires to be taken due
care for human safety during
– Planning stage
– Execution or construction stage
– During maintenance stage
by architects, engineers, local bodies like fire authorities
and construction workers
ALTHOUGH GLASS
IS BRITTLE, IT IS
SAFE FROM FIRE,
EARTHQUAKES AND
EVEN BLASTS IF
ONE CHOOSES
RIGHT TYPE OF
GLASS AND USES IT
APPROPRIATELY

16. SAFETY IN CONSTRUCTION
• During planning stage
– Design safety
– Stipulation of materials
– Adoption of processes
• During construction stage
– Workers safety
– Safety due to materials
• During life cycle or maintenance stage
– Due to fire
– Due to disasters
– Due to accidents

17. SAFETY MEASURES AVAILABLE
BUT SELDOM USED AT SITE

18. SAFETY DEMANDS THAT PRESENCE
OF GLASS IS MADE VISIBLE
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19. Glass being transparent,
can cause head injury
mistaken for openings
Addition of bands
makes it visible and
avoids accident.

20. TYPES OF GLASS
• Float Glass
• Tampered or Toughened Glass
• Laminated Glass
• Heat Strengthened Glass
• Fire Resistance Glass
• Insulated Glass
There are other special glasses like patterned glass,
tinted glass, frosted glass, bullet proof glass, etc.

21. SAFETY GLASS
• Safety glass is constructed, treated or
combined with other materials so as to reduce
the likelihood of injury to persons by objects
from exterior sources or by these safety
glasses when they are cracked or broken.
• Toughened Safety (Tempered) Glass (TS)
• Toughened Float Safety Glass (TF)
• Laminated Safety Glass (LS)
• Laminated Float Safety Glass (LF)

22. SAFETY GLASSES
• Toughened (Tempered) Safety Glass is a single piece of specially heat-
treated, with a stress pattern such that the piece when fractured reduces
to numerous granular fragments, with no large jagged edges.
• In Laminated Safety Glass, two or more pieces of glass are held together
by an interleaving layer or layers of plastic materials. The laminated
glass will crack and break under sufficient impact, but the pieces of glass
tend to adhere to the plastic and do not fly.
• Safety Glasses are required to satisfy the relevant tests in accordance
with IS 2553 (Part 1).
• All heat-treated glasses are not safety glasses
• All laminated, toughened and safety organic coated glasses are not safety
glasses.
• Heat strengthened glasses and annealed glasses are not safety glasses
unless laminated to meet the test specified for safety glass.
• Glass laminated with other than polyvinyl butyral (PVB) may not satisfy
the requirement of safety glass.

23. SAFETY GLASS REQUIREMENTS
Test Toughened safety
glass
Laminated safety
glass
Standard to be
referred
Resistance to shock
test
Yes -
IS:2553 (Part 1)
Fragmentation test Yes -
Warp test Yes -
Boil test - Yes
Fracture and
adhesion test
- Yes
Light stability test - Yes

24. HOW TO ENSURE - SAFETY GLASS
• Procure from certified manufacturer.
• Either a label that cannot be removed and
reused or a permanent mark on the glass
surface shall mark all the panels of safety glass
according to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
• Each label must contain the ISI mark as
prescribed by the BIS, manufacturers name,
registered trademark or code of the
manufacturer or supplier and type of safety
glass .

25. CRITICAL LOCATIONS
• Any glazing 1.5 metre above the floor level of a building
is considered likely to be subjected to human impact
• Safety glazing material should also be used where there
is danger of falling infill glass materials from overhead
glazing, danger of falling due to a change in floor level,
and in case of balustrades, stairs and floors.
• In -and-around doors, low windows.
• Panels mistaken for a doorway or opening.
• Panels at low levels in walls and partitions.
• Bathrooms.
• Buildings associated with special activities, e.g.
gymnasia, enclosed swimming pools etc.,
• Schools and child care facilities.
• Nursing homes and aged care facilities.

26. SAFETY GLASS REQUIRED
IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

27. GLASS IN CRITICAL AREAS IS
UNSAFE, MUST USE SAFETY GLASS
(human impact & risk of fall)

28. GLASS IN CRITICAL AREAS IS
UNSAFE, MUST USE SAFETY GLASS
(human impact & risk of fall)

29. USE OF TOUGHENED GLASS MUST FOR
CRITICAL AREAS (human impact)

30. CO-RELATION BETWEEN MAXIMUM
GLASS AREA AND GLASS THICKNESS
(IMPACT LOAD)
• Maximum Permissible area of Safety Glass as
well as annealed glass corresponding to
thickness and supporting conditions i.e 4,3,2
sides etc. are available (AS:1288-2006) upto
7.5sqm
• In cases beyond 7.5 sqm. IS : 875 (Part 3) :1987
(Reaffirmed 1997) is to be referred for external
glazing.

31. PRECAUTIONS AGAINST GLASS
FALLING ON PEOPLE
• Broken annealed glass falling on people can cause grievous or even fatal injuries;
hence it is recommended to use safety glass in locations other than defined in
case 1 where the risk of people getting hurt by falling glass is high.
• Toughened (tempered) glass due to safe breakage pattern breaks and
disintegrates into small and relatively harmless particles. However thick
toughened glass particles may stay interlocked and fall as lumps of these multiple
particles and can cause a minor or medium injury mainly due to the weight of the
cluster.
• Laminated safety glass will generally not fall out of fixing. However, where
laminated glass with both glasses toughened, is used for horizontal or sloped
glazing, in case of failure of both toughened glasses, it may crumple as a blanket
and fall out of fixing in the event of failure of both toughened glasse. Therefore,
Strength of the glazing system should be such that it has the ability to hold
glass in place and prevent it from falling out as a whole.
• If Insulating Glass Unit (IGU) is used in situations mentioned above, then criterion
will be followed if IGU is installed in areas subjected to human impact on either
side then both the panes of the unit shall be provided with safety glass and in
situations where access is restricted to one side of the unit, then only the
accessible side should be provided with safety glass .

32. PRECAUTIONS DURING HANDLING,
TRANSPORTATION, CUTTING AND
FIXING OF GLASS
• It should be ensured in multi-storeyed buildings having
structural glazing that framework is properly designed
and is rigidly fixed to the structure.
• Selection of glass to be based on location, size, breakage
characteristics, type of the building and its use, in
particular the number of the people expected to be in
close proximity to the glass in critical locations,
requirements for fire, security ,wind loading, thermal
breakage, energy efficiency and deflection, vision,
acoustics and other consideration and impact of trolleys,
carts, luggage etc .as per the use.
• Presence of glass doors must be made apparent .
• Installation procedures, must be followed as per BIS.

33. PRECAUTIONS FOR USE OF
GLASS FOR FIRE SAFETY
• Fire rating of the glass needs to be considered as per the codal
requirements from fire safety as well as from evacuation
considerations.
• Sufficient side hung openings/windows need to be provided for
fireman to evacuate trapped people .These openable portions have
to be left at regular distances for firefighting and smoke exhaust.
• Alternatively, knock-out panels are to be provided with tempered
glass to allow fracturing of the glass into small pieces, identified by
a non-removable reflective dot (typically 5 cms in diameter) located
in the lower corner of the glass to be visible from the ground by the
fire fighters.
• Space between the slab and façade to be provided with fire stops
and fire rated GI backup panel to stop fire traveling from one floor
to another.
• Glass proposed to be used for internal fire compartmentation
should either be low radiation (Class EW) or insulated fire rated
glass (Class EI) conforming to National Building Code of India 2005.

34. FIRE RESISTANT GLASS
Glass can actually substitute a brick wall in terms
of fire-rating property while maintaining
transparency.
• Wired Glass
• Borosilicate Glass
• Toughened Glass with flame retardant coating
• Toughened Glass with Intumescent gel
• Laminated Glass with Intumescent layers.

35. FIRE PROTECTIVE AND FIRE
RESISTIVE GLASS

36. FIRE RESISTANCE GLASS

38. FIRE RATED DOOR FOR FIRE SAFETY
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39. CONCLUSIONS
• Looking at the increase in use of glass in building industry,
human safety has become the main concern.
• Glass, no longer, remains a general product but a tailor
made product to be designed and selected based on its
location, site requirements, functional requirements, fire
safety requirements and overall human safety
requirements during its applications and thereafter
during life cycle of the structure.
• It is utmost important to select the right type of glass, its
appropriate thickness and complete glazing system.
• To minimise accidents, it is onus on the Architect /
designer to appropriately use the quality of transparency
while designing so that presence of glass is made visible.
• Due to increase in fire accidents, all the provisions for fire
safety must be mandated and strictly followed.

40. (Considerable material and photos have been taken from various websites
and CCPS guidelines. The contribution is gratefully acknowledged)