Accident
means a fortuitous event, taking place without any human agency, or if happening through human agency, an event having an unusual or unexpected result. An undesirable event usually resulting in a personal injury that takes place without expectation.

Advocates for Safe Glass, Inc.
is a non-profit organization founded by parents of children injured by wired glass.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
is an organization that has developed standards that are voluntarily accepted. They apply if adopted by a building code authority or if specified in the approved plans and specifications of the architect, building contractor, or other glass specifier. The ANSI standards require permanent labeling on the glass.

Annealed glass
is standard or ordinary glass. It is not safety glass and when broken, breaks into dangerous shards.

Bulletproof glass
is referred to as bullet-resistant glass in the glass industry because there is no glass that is absolutely bulletproof. Bullet-resistant glass is laminated glass using various numbers of layers.

Decal
is a picture or design transferred to glass in order to alert people to the presence of the glass. Decals are commonly used to warn people of otherwise dangerous conditions.

Della Reese
is the famous singer and actress who brought to the attention of millions, more than 35 years ago (1970), the inherent danger of sliding glass doors made with non-safety plate glass. Della Reese accidentally walked into a plate glass door. She was nearly killed when she was sliced by the broken shards of glass so badly that she lost most of her blood and required a thousand stitches to close her wounds. When she crashed through the glass, she fell on top of the jagged bottom pieces. The more she tried to change position. the deeper the glass cut. A split second before the top glass fell, she was able to pull herself off the bottom pieces of glass.

Dicing
is the phenomenon describing the breaking of tempered glass into small, relatively harmless fragments.

Float glass
is ordinary, non-safety glass.

Glazing
is the work of installing glass in a frame.

Heat-strengthened glass
is not safety glass. The fracture characteristics vary widely.

Inherently Dangerous Product
Non-safety glass is an inherently dangerous product because the danger of injury from the product arises from the product itself, and not from a defect in the product.

International Residential Code (IRC)
requires safety glass in hazardous locations such as in showers and in sliding glass doors. Nearly all states and municipalities have adopted the IRC. The first edition was published in 2000 and it has been updated since that time. The last edition of the Uniform Building Code was published in 1997.

Labeling
Most safety glass can be identified by a permanent label located on one of the corners.

Laminated glass
is a type of safety glass consisting of a sandwich of two or more glass sheets bonded with an interlayer material, which is usually made of plastic or a resin. When laminated glass breaks, the glass remains adhered to the plastic or resin, avoiding highly dangerous shards. Automobile manufacturers started using laminated glass for windshields in the year 1919. Laminated glass is also effective at reducing sound transmission.

Negligence
is doing something that. a reasonably prudent person would not do, or failing to do something that a reasonably prudent person would do. It is conduct that falls below the standard of care established by law for the protection of others. The law of negligence is based upon reasonable conduct given the circumstances of a particular situation.

Ordinary glass
is standard or annealed glass. It is not safety glass and when broken, breaks into dangerous shards.

Plate glass
is ordinary non-safety glass.

Premises liability
generally refers to accidents that occur due to negligent maintenance, or unsafe conditions upon property owned by someone other than the accident victim.

SGCC
is the Safety Glazing Certification Council. SGCC maintains a certification program under which manufacturers of glass voluntarily submit their products for testing to an SGCC-approved independent testing laboratory. The safety tests are designed to reduce the risk of injury or death.

Shard
is a piece or broken non-safety glass that 'is sharp and pointed. Shares can be four to ten inches or more in length.

Shatter-resistant glass
or shatterproof glass is safety glass.

Standard glass
is ordinary or annealed glass. It is not safety glass and when broken, breaks into dangerous shards.

Tempered glass
(fully tempered) is a type of safety glass commonly used for sliding glass doors, shower doors and enclosures, entry doors and side panels, and many windows including the side windows of vehicles. When broken, it breaks into small, rounded pieces of glass (beads) rather than"jagged, sharp shards. Tempered glass is four to five times stronger than ordinary annealed glass. It cannot be cut after the tempering process (heat process) has been completed.

U.S. Consumer Safety Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
drafted the standard for safety glass, which was adopted in 1977 as 'federal' law. Fully tempered and laminated glass complies with the mandatory provisions of the federal law. The federal law is "16 CFR 1201." The law has been amended several times. The CPSC standard, with one exception, does not require labels on safety glass, but does require the issuance of a certificate of compliance if a label is not placed on the glass. Consequently, most safety glass is labeled.

Untampered glass
is ordinary annealed glass. It is not safety glass and when broken, breaks into dangerous shards.

Wired glass
is rolled glass with welded wire mesh laminated or embedded in the middle. It is primarily used in areas where the glass must remain in position to block drafts during a fire, even after it cracks. It is often found in skylights.