Safety glass

It is used mainly in buildings where the risk of injury of people as a result of glass breaking occurs.
Safety glass is most commonly used in public spaces (offices, schools, hospitals, shopping malls) to prevent tragic accidents. Safety glass includes laminated glass (VSG), tempered glass of steel wired glass.
Safety glass is defined by EN 12600:2004 Standard “Glass in building. Pendulum test. Impact test method and classification for flat glass.” It describes the method of testing glass panes with impact pendulum in order to classify it to one of the main groups, depending on the material fracture patterns:

• Type A – Fracture pattern typical for tempered glass. Numerous fractures, occurring as separated fragments with sharp edges, some of them large.
• Type B – Fracture pattern typical for laminated glass. Numerous fractures but with shards sticking together and undivided.
• Type C – Fracture pattern typical for tempered glass. Breakdown including numerous small shards, relatively harmless.

The standard also defines three classes based on user safety:

• class 3 (190 mm drop height when testing glass) – suitable in the case of strong push by an adult or a small child running into glass;
• class 2 (450 mm drop height) – in this class, glass is resistant to hit by an adult, but it may not withstand an adult running into it;
• class 1 (1200 mm drop height) – for critical uses.