A number of internal and external locations are regarded crucial areas in terms of the safety of glazing, because they can be at risk from unintentional human impact. Important regions comprise of doors, bathroom glazing, low windows or any other glass located below 500mm from floor level. Safety glass is used to prevent injuries caused by broken glass and comes in two popular forms, toughened and laminated glass.
Toughened Glass
Toughened Glass is an A Grade safety glass that appears just like regular glass though it receives a special high temperature treatment to toughen it. This is actually significantly stronger compared to regular glass and upon impact falls apart into smallish granular portions that are usually not as sharp, decreasing the chance of personal injury.
Laminated Glass
Laminated Glass is also an A Grade safety glass and is made up of multiple sheets of regular glass, which are joined together with a plastic interlayer. The plastic interlayer delivers a barrier and on impact virtually any damaged shards of glass is likely to continue to be connected to this plastic material minimizing the possibility of injury.
Although Toughened and Laminated glass are the most popular types there are several other types of safety glass, such as safety mirror, wire reinforced glass and safety films, which can be applied to existing glass. Regardless of the type of safety glass used they all achieve the same result, preventing devastating injuries that can be caused by glass.