About Us
Glazing Face was originally established January 2009. It was created to try and show a non-biased review on glazing companies to allow you to make the right decisions. We'd like the site to be known as an impartial magazine style website dedicated to the end…
Read More..Glazing Refurbishment Ltd
Glazing Refurbishment Ltd, a member of the Vision Group of Companies, has been successfully maintaining and repairing commercial glazed structures for the last twenty five years. Glazing Refurbishment Ltd's services can be extended to…
Read More..Health and Safety Standards
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 has required employers, self employed and people who have control over workplaces to ensure the health and safety of anyone who may be affected by their work activities. This includes glazing, if there is a risk; practicable measures need to be taken to deal with it.
Although The Health and Safety at Work Act does not mention glazing, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 came into effect on 1 January 1993. Regulation 14 includes requirements for glazing. The regulations apply to a wide range of workplaces including: factories, offices, shops, schools, hospitals, hotels, and places of entertainments. They do not apply to domestic premises used for work or to construction sites.
It will be up to the employer to comply with the regulations, however people other then the employers may be liable if they have control of a work place to any extend, for example owners, and landlords of buildings used as workplaces. In a multi-occupied building, the owner may be the duty holder opposed to the individual employers.
The Regulation requires that every window or other transparent / translucent surface in a wall, partition or door should be of a safety material or be protected against breakage of the transparent/translucent material, and be appropriately marked or incorporate features to make it apparent.
The regulation only expects action where necessary for reasons of health or safety. As the duty holder you need to assess every window or other transparent/translucent surface in a wall, partition or door to establish whether there is a risk of anyone being hurt if people or objects come into contact with it, or if it breaks.
If there is a risk, actions will ne necessary to comply with the regulation so you must:
- Prevent people or objects coming into contact with the glazing, or
- Upgrade it so that if it breaks, it breaks safely, and
- Mark large expanses of glazing in some way so that people know it is there.
To assess the risk, you need to take into account all relevant factors such as the location of the glazing, the activities taking place nearby, the volume of traffic and pedestrians, and any previous experience of incidents*. Glazing in some locations may be a higher risk such as:
- In doors and door side panels
- Where any part of the transparent or translucent surface is at shoulder level or below
- In windows, walls and partitions where any part of the transparent/translucent surface is at waist level or below
Depending on what needs to be done will depend on the extent of the risk in individual circumstances, you may need to:
- Reorganise traffic routers (people or vehicles) to avoid risk of glazing being broken
- Put up suitable barriers or screens to prevent people or vehicles coming into contact with the glazing. The size or strength of the barrier will depend on who, or what needs to be kept away from the glazing
- Modify the glazing to reduce the risk of injury, e.g. safety filming
- Limit the area of glazing
- Replace the glazing with a safety material
Some examples of safety materials include:
- Materials which are inherently robust such as polycarbonates or glass blocks, or
- Glass which if it breaks, breaks safely, e.g. glass which breaks in a way that it does not result in large sharp pieces*
*We recommend you contact a glazing specialist such as GR3 Limited