Growing Support for Elimination of Wired Glass Exemption

San Francisco, CA – October 17, 2002 -- At the recent IBC code hearings, the ICC membership voted 300 to 158 in favor of changing IBC section 2406.1 to eliminate the lower test standard applied to fire rated wired glass, and to require compliance with CPSC safety glazing standards in all occupancies (S188-02). The vote fell short of the two-thirds majority required for adoption by only five votes. The membership did, however, approve narrower code changes to eliminate the exemption in educational occupancies -- schools K-12 (S187-02) -- and to require that safety glazing in athletic facilities, including basketball gymnasiums, meet CPSC Category II impact test requirements (S193-02). While the 2003 IBC will still allow wired glass under the lower test standard in other occupancies, the ICC vote signals the end of the safety glazing exception that has stood for over 20 years.

Fire-rated wired glass is used in fire doors and other assemblies in human impact areas where it can be accidentally impacted by children and young adults. In 1977 the CPCS found wired glass to be unsafe. While the wires give the illusion of safety they actually weaken the glazing making it half as strong as regular glass; and when broken, wired glass exposes razor sharp wires that can trap a human body causing further damage upon withdrawal.

“Children and young adults have suffered severe and life-threatening injuries resulting in amputations, paralysis, and impaired mobility due to permanent nerve damage -- injuries that didn’t just happen in schools,” says Kate Steel, Code Consultant, SAFTI. “There is evidence of injuries in other building uses, such as apartment buildings, convalescent hospitals, mental hospitals, universities and fraternity residences.”

Despite real safety concerns and real injuries, wired glass was exempted from federal regulation in fire assemblies because it was the only fire protection glazing available at the time that met building code requirements for use as vision panels in fire doors and windows. The exemption was only supposed to last for two and a half years in order to give manufacturers time to develop a glazing that was both impact and fire safe.
It was extended indefinitely, however, after legal challenge by foreign wired glass manufacturers. As a result, wired glass in fire assemblies has been exempted from CPSC impact test requirements and subject to lower ANSI Z97.1 test standards for the last 25 years.

“We were surprised to learn that wired glass isn’t considered a safety glazing material by the CPSC, but is classified as a safety glazing product under a voluntary safety glazing standard, ANSI Z97.1, developed by a Committee made up of primarily glazing producers, which has a lower impact test than the CPSC standard,” says Greg Abel, Advocates for Safe Glass. “We have solid test data that wired glass does not even meet the lower ANSI Z97.1 impact test which only protects children under five. And wired glass manufacturers ‘self-certify’ their products, which puts the burden of determining compliance on local code officials.”

In the meantime, several wireless, fire rated glazing alternatives that meet CPSC standards have been developed and manufactured during the past 20 years. Some of these alternatives are comparable in cost to wired glass, while some are more expensive but offer more fire protection. However, all are subject to the higher CPSC impact safety glazing standards. And while foreign wired glass manufacturers have claimed failure since 1977 to develop a fire rated wired glass that meets CPSC standards, an American manufacturer has succeeded.

SAFTI, a manufacturer of fire and safety rated glazing alternatives, has recently announced the certification and listing of a new wired glass product with special safety film that meets CPSC Category I and II, and 45-minute fire rating requirements under NFPA 252 and NFPA 257.

“Given the documented dangers of wired glass is there any justification for excusing wired glass from CPSC safety standards in fire assemblies, in impact areas, when alternative products and film technology offer solutions for impact safety at a cost less than $1/sq.ft.? The answer is simple: No,” says Kate Steel, Code Consultant, SAFTI.

The recent ICC vote of 300 to158 in favor of eliminating the lower test standards applied to fire rated wired glass indicates strong support by ICC members for a code change that addresses the unsafe application of wired glass in all building occupancies.

“We’re confident that the code proposal to eliminate the wired glass exception altogether will pass during the next IBC code development cycle. However, we have a feeling that many of the 300 building officials who voted in favor of eliminating the exception aren’t going to wait that long,” says Kate Steel, Code Consultant, SAFTI.

For more information: www.safeglass.org