of wires.
Photo © Robert Brayton
Codifying the standard
The next step to broadening the impact of the revised standard is for NBC to incorporate the standard into its model code. This has been a lengthy process, in part because the now defunct wired glass standard is referenced throughout NBC, and each of those references must be updated.
The process of updating the 2015 edition of NBC is nearing completion. Revisions to the 2015 edition of NBC were available for public review through December 23, 2019. Once the review period ended, comments were analyzed by the committees updating the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC). Proposed changes will either be approved, withdrawn, or adapted and resubmitted for further comment. Once approved, these changes will be published in the soon-to-be-released 2020 edition of NBC.
If approved, however, the current allowance under NBC 3.1.9.1 for fixed wired glass assemblies within a fire separation will read, “[G]lazing in all fixed and operable panels of doors shall conform to Class A of CAN/CGSB-12.1-2017, Safety Glazing.”
Impact of code changes
It is true codes likely will not eliminate exceptions for wired glass until NBC 2020 (expected to be published this year), and potentially much later, as provinces and other local jurisdictions would then have to formally adopt the new edition for the revised language to become enforceable. The adoption may take several years, as each province has the option of not updating its codes. However, design and construction professionals may still have some responsibility to make a change today.
As Zaremba explains, “The CGSB glass committee has adopted a new safety glazing standard. Whether it is in the new model building code or not, that standard will likely be used in potential litigation if there is an accident involving wired glass in violation of the new standard.”
Each designer and contractor will have an individual choice to make, but given the evidence of injury, specifying or installing a product not meeting the new expectations established by the CGSB standard could result in a liability.
“If I were specifying product in Canada right now, I would identify whether the location is hazardous and, if it is, I would not specify monolithic wired glass, whether or not my jurisdiction permits it. I would insist the use of safety glazing,” Zaremba says.
Contractors managing maintenance or renovations may also have some responsibility in making glazing updates. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committee has recently held a discussion around building owners’ responsibility under NFPA 80, Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, to update monolithic wired glass in hazardous locations.
“The committee went back and forth over a variety of iterations and finally settled on one that basically said if it was installed at a time when monolithic wired glass was permitted in a hazardous location it can remain there. If, however, it is damaged and must be replaced, monolithic wired glass cannot be used to replace it in a hazardous location. You would have to upgrade the product to one that passes current safety glazing standards,” Zaremba explains. This recommendation will be made in the 2022 edition of NFPA 80.
The bottom line
It is important to remember, even with the revised standards, wired glass can be used in hazardous locations—just not in its monolithic configuration. Wired glass products that are coated or otherwise manufactured and tested to comply with the new safety glazing standard can be used even in hazardous fire-rated applications. It should never be used in any non-fire-rated application.
“The only location where wired glass should ever have been allowed is a location in an application that required a fire-rated glazing,” Zaremba emphasizes. “That is the essential positive value of monolithic wired glass: that it can withstand a fire test and stop the passage of hot gas, flame, and smoke.”
It is also important to note that there are many products on the market today providing safe fire protection without the risk of danger brought by wired glass. Fire safety films, applied and tested for performance by the glass fabricator, are one effective alternative. Numerous glass ceramic products have been manufactured to resist high temperature and thermal shock for up to 180 minutes. These fire-protective products effectively stop flame, smoke, and hot gasses in vulnerable areas, and can be installed as a cost-effective alternative to wired glass in fire windows and fire door vision lites.
With the number of fire-rated safety glazing options available today, designers and contractors have little reason to risk liability or future injuries.
As Zaremba puts it, “We now know there are multiple types of organic film coatings that can be applied to these products and that will pass the fire test, so there is really no excuse for using monolithic wired glass in a hazardous location anymore, whether it is fire-rated or not.”
Stephanie Miller leads marketing and communications for Vetrotech Saint-Gobain in North America. Miller can be reached via e-mail at stephanie.miller@saint-gobain.com.
