Wired glass was the only fire rated glass (FRG) product available for over 100 years. In traditional wired glass, the embedded wires hold annealed glass in place during the fire test to achieve a fire rating. While the wires give the illusion of increased strength and impact resistance, the opposite is true. Wired glass is not safety glazing. The wires actually weaken the glass, making it half as strong as ordinary window glass. Wired glass breaks easily on human impact, exposing razor sharp wires that can trap a victim’s limb in the opening and increase the severity of the injury. Alarmingly, wired glass is the most commonly used FRG product found in educational facilities, leading to over 2,500 wired glass impact injuries in schools every year. In 1977, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) enacted a federal safety glazing standard (16 CFR 1201) to protect people from injury due to accidental impact with glazing. The building codes apply the CPSC standard to require that glazing used in hazardous locations, such as doors and sidelites, must meet minimum Category I and II impact standards, depending on the size of the glazing panel. Smaller glazing panels in sizes up to 1296 square inches must meet the Category I impact test of 150 ft. lbs. Larger glazing panels must meet the higher Category II standard impact test of 400 ft. lbs. of impact resistance. At the time the federal standard was enacted, wired glass manufacturers alleged they lacked the technology make a fire rated product that could meet the new CPSC standards. Since wired glass was the only FRG product available in 1977, the IBC granted wired glass a temporary exemption from meeting the CPSC standard. This exemption allowed wired glass used in fire assemblies to meet a lower ANSI Z97.1 impact standard of 100 ft. lbs., which the CPSC acknowledged was inadequate to protect anyone except children under five. For more information, click on the link below.
Related Stories
| Feb 27, 2014
PPG earns DOE funding to develop dynamically responsive IR window coating Technology aims to maintain daylighting, control solar heat gain
PPG Industries’ flat glass business has received $312,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a dynamically responsive infrared (IR) window coating that will block heat in the summer to reduce air-conditioning costs and transmit solar heat in the winter to reduce heating costs.
| Feb 5, 2014
Extreme conversion: Atlanta turns high-rise office building into high school
Formerly occupied by IBM, the 11-story Lakeside building is the new home for North Atlanta High School.
| Feb 5, 2014
PPG creates new BIM library, adds custom BIM file creation to tool
PPG Industries announced that it has created a new library of building information and modeling (BIM) files, and that architects and specifiers can now use PPG Glass eVIEW to generate custom BIM files for any conceivable PPG glass configuration.
| Feb 5, 2014
7 towers that define the 'skinny skyscraper' boom [slideshow]
Recent advancements in structural design, combined with the loosening of density and zoning requirements, has opened the door for the so-called "superslim skyscraper."
Sponsored | | Jan 30, 2014
Transparent, fire rated stairwell enhances design of renovated Cincinnati Art Museum
When the Cincinnati Art Museum embarked on an $11 million renovation, the architects wanted the entrance and main stair to be as inviting as possible. Transparent, fire rated glazing from SAFTI FIRST was a key component of the design solution.
| Jan 28, 2014
2014 predictions for skyscraper construction: More twisting towers, mega-tall projects, and 'superslim' designs
Experts from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat release their 2014 construction forecast for the worldwide high-rise industry.
| Jan 23, 2014
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed Federation of Korean Industries tower opens in Seoul [slideshow]
The 50-story tower features a unique, angled building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) exterior designed to maximize the amount of energy collected.
| Jan 21, 2014
2013: The year of the super-tall skyscraper
Last year was the second-busiest ever in terms of 200-meter-plus building completions, with 73 towers, according to a report by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Dec 10, 2013
16 great solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors
From a crowd-funded smart shovel to a why-didn’t-someone-do-this-sooner scheme for managing traffic in public restrooms, these ideas are noteworthy for creative problem-solving. Here are some of the most intriguing innovations the BD+C community has brought to our attention this year.
| Oct 15, 2013
Sustainable design trends in windows, doors and door hardware [AIA course]
Architects and fenestration experts are looking for windows and doors for their projects that emphasize speed to the project site, a fair price, resilient and sustainable performance, and no callbacks.
