GLASS ROOFLIGHTS
Rooflight glazing: check for the safety tick.
‘Misleading’ The term ‘toughened’ implies a degree of safety which in the case of rooflights, is misleading. Toughened glass inner panes actually bring a risk of shattering and falling into the room beneath and it is this fact that NARM is addressing with its campaign, following a number of worrying reports of potentially dangerous incidents involving poorly designed or installed rooflights. NARM Safety Representative, Mark Wilcox said: “It is difficult to see how use of a toughened rather than laminated glass inner pane doesn’t present a risk to anyone beneath a rooflight, whatever the position or height of the installation. In our view, any risk assessment of a toughened
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November/December 2020
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Current British Standards define that inner panes on rooflights must be laminated in applications more than 5 metres above floor level (increased to 13 metres in limited circumstances) or are located over water (eg swimming pools). However, the relevant standard permits use of toughened glass inner panes in other applications, if a risk assessment is carried out and confirmation provided that this does not present additional risk to those below the rooflight.
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NARM, the National Association of Rooflight Manufacturers, has launched a new campaign to support the requirement for laminated inner panes on glass rooflights for important safety reasons, bringing pressure on the British Standards Institute for a regulatory amendment.
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LAMINATED INNER PANE ENDORSED BY inner pane is therefore largely irrelevant.”
ACR support This is a position strongly supported by ACR, the Advisory Committee for Roofsafety, a body founded by the Health & Safety Executive, dedicated to making working on roofs safer. ACR has published its own document covering this issue, entitled: Glass
“It is difficult to see how use of a toughened rather than laminated glass inner pane doesn’t present a risk to anyone beneath a rooflight, whatever the position or height of the installation”
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