Is Glass Furniture Safe?
About nine months ago we had a fierce thunderstorm sweep through our Baltimore County neighborhood. The storm came up quick and without warning, sporting gusts of over 40 mph. It came so fast, we didn’t realize that the umbrella in our glass-topped patio table was still up. The wind took the umbrella like a sail, which in turn put a great deal of pressure on the glass in the table as the umbrella bent over. Eventually… well… the picture speaks for itself.
As you can see, the glass in our table shattered into a million little pieces. While annoying to clean up, it was relieving. The shattering indicates that the glass in our patio table is tempered (a.k.a. safety glass or toughened glass).
The Dangers of Glass Furniture
Glass that has not undergone a tempering process will shatter into large, dangerous shards. A piece of glass the size of the surface of this table could easily break into the equivalent of a 1-foot-wide sharp pointed spear that could slice through a limb or puncture an organ.
So that got me thinking… is all glass furniture safe? Tempering has been around for ages, so one would think tempered glass would be a basic requirement for all glass furniture?
No Legal Requirement…Injuries are Prevalent
In this case, common sense doesn’t prevail. According to a December, 2008 Consumer Reports article, an estimated 20,000 injuries occur every year due to glass furniture accidents. In the United States, there’s no law that requires glass furniture be manufactured only with tempered glass. The article goes on to point out that this issue could be easily addressed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, but it has yet to get the appropriate attention.
What’s worse is that it’s virtually impossible to identify tempered glass with the naked eye without breaking the glass. Plus, eager salesman could be quick to assume that all furniture glass is safe, when in fact there’s no regulation that would require that.
Our recommendation: Stay away from glass furniture unless you are absolutely sure that the glass is tempered. We have a second glass patio table that matches the first that we’ll keep. We also have three glass tables in our living room (a coffee table and two end tables) that we have decided to recycle.
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April 5th, 2009 3:40 pm
Bravo, Fred. As a veteran of the glass industry, it is great to read an article about glass where someone got the facts right. The need for safety standards and mandatory regulation of glass used in furniture is critical. Keep up the good work.