Press

Innovating Secure Glass Buildings

The National Glass Association’s bi-annual Glass Conference finished up in Long Beach, California last week. The conference included presentations about efforts being made to improve security at vulnerable locations, focusing largely on schools.

According to coverage by USGNN, Eastman Chemical’s Julie Schimmelpenningh shared updates on ASTM’s work to develop an Active Shooter Standard. The need for such a standard has risen out of the increasing number of school shootings happening in North America.

The Active Shooter Test Standard is currently a work in progress that will provide testing for forced-entry resistance and a rating for fenestration products. Ideally, all schools would have bullet proof glass, however, this is not possible due to differing budget constraints.

The goal of the Active Shooter Test Standard then is to simulate the weakening of an active shooter system. A range of performance options will be required with the understanding that it won’t be feasible to put the highest performance level in all locations due to budget constraints.

The International Code Council Ad Hoc Building Safety and Security (BSS) committee is working on a separate report to include all high occupancy facilities, not just schools.

According to industry consultant Thom Zaremba, the intent of the report is to:

  • provide design elements, devices, and protocols that hinder those intending to commit acts of violence,
  • help facilitate more efficient responses from emergency service personnel, and
  • encourage local judicial action to require new high-risk occupancies to have a BSS assessment during the planning and design phase of construction.

Read More: Cutting-Edge Glass Technologies

As the glass industry continues to make technological advantages, glass buildings will continue to become more safe and secure.

techniglassInnovating Secure Glass Buildings