The safety, design, installation and maintenance of glass railings and guards was a topic of discussion during the Glass Association of North America’s (GANA) Tempering Division today. As part of the Fall Conference, the meeting is underway this week at the Chicago Hilton.
Valerie Block with DuPont updated the group on the activities of the Canadian Standards Association, which has formed a technical committee called Building Guards, as a result of the falling glass incidences in Toronto.
According to Block, the purpose of the committee is to develop a comprehensive standard that will become the basis for glass railing systems. Block explained that the committee works similarly to some of the consensus bodies in the United States. The committee, which is made up of a number of different interests, from architects to suppliers and installers, is working on a number of activities relevant to the standard’s development. The group’s next meeting will be in October in Toronto and Block expects more work to be assigned to the different subcommittees and task forces then.
She added that there is''active involvement from all provinces'' and there is great interest in the design, maintenance and installation.
''So it's not just about the glass,'' she said.
Also during the Tempering Division meeting, Thom Zaremba, a consultant to GANA, shared with the group that earlier this year the Glazing Industry Code Committee (GICC) had proposed a change to the International Building Code (IBC) that would require glazing used in guards/guardrails to be laminated unless there is permanent protection for walkways below. The change would have applied to both interior and exterior applications. He explained, however, that a number of oppositions were brought forward; this included one person's opinion that there wasn't an issue as far as interior settings, as well as concern that a requirement for laminated glass would increase the costs.
Zaremeba said that while the ICC structural technical committee voted to recommend disapproval, GICC has since submitted a comment based on extensive research, and brought forward cases of a number of balcony failures in both Canada and the United States.
''And we have laid evidence out as a written public comment and we're asking the ICC to reverse the technical committee's decision and adopt the proposal as it was originally submitted,'' he said.
According to Zaremba, this will be voted on next month during the ICC code hearings in Oregon and if it passes will be a part of the 2015 IBC. Zaremba added, though, there are still only a few jurisdictions that have adopted the 2012 IBC ''so it's not likely to have an immediate impact.
Additional information is available through the GICC website.
GANA's Fall Conference continues this afternoon and tomorrow. Stay tuned to USGNN.com™ and USGlass magazine for more updates from the event.
