Protective Glazing Discussions Take Place During Fall Conference

Paul Whitaker, AIA with Rosser International explained the differences between detention glazing and other types of protective glazing.

The Glass Association of North America's (GANA) Fall Conference yesterday was packed with meetings and participants, beginning at 7 a.m. and going until after 6 p.m.The protective glazing committee and the mirror division were the last meetings of the day, and were both well attended.

The protective glazing committee discussed a number of glass informational bulletins that are in progress. The first bulletin, on bullet-resistant glazing, was published in July and has already been downloaded numerous times from the GANA website. The group is now working on documents about blast-resistant glazing and detention glazing.

In addition, the committee has a running "wish list" of future projects and goals. Some future projects may include the development of an AIA-accredited presentation; a glass informational bulletin on earthquake glazing; working with researchers and universities on topics such as hailstorms, tornadoes, etc.; and how hospital designs are changing with protective glazing.

Also during the protective glazing committee, Paul Whitaker, AIA with Rosser International Inc. gave a presentation titled "Issues in Security Glazing for Justice Architecture." He explained that "justice architecture" refers to jails, prisons and other detention areas.

Whitaker talked about how detention glazing is different from other types of protective glazing. One of the biggest differences, he said, is the type of assault tools against which they are designing for protection.

"Our primary threat is typically something improvised … [prisoners] may pry apart a table or stool-things that are not very sophisticated." Different types of glazing, testing and compatibility were also covered during the presentation.

The GANA mirror division meeting also met during yesterday's meeting. Members of the group's promotions committee discussed the design awards. In years past the awards have been exclusive to the mirror division, but this year the awards are open to all divisions. The decorative, tempering and laminating divisions are participating, in addition to the mirror group. Tim Crawford, division chair with Donisi Mirror encouraged everyone to participate.

"It really helps get the use of mirror out there," said Crawford.

During the technical committee meeting the group discussed revisions and updates that are in the works for a number of documents, including ASTM C1503-01, Standard Specification for Silvered Flat Glass Mirror. The standard was published in 2001 and since ASTM requires all documents to be reviewed and/or updated after five years a task group has been working on this effort. The group has been working to keep the updates consistent with ASTM C 1036, Standard Specification for Flat Glass.

In other mirror division news, a glass informational bulletin on proper fabrication of flat glass mirrors is being sent out for balloting. A task group was also formed to work on a bulletin that will focus on installation.

The mirror division decided to change its membership criteria so that only silverers will be full members; others will be associate members.

GANA's Fall Conference runs through today, concluding with meetings of the insulating and decorative divisions.

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