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The Benefits of Security Glazing

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Tragedies such as Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, have parents and administrators across the country clamoring for solutions to make schools more secure. Doors and windows – more specifically, the glass — are under significant scrutiny.

For extra security, laminated glass is an easy, cost-effective measure in protecting against forced entry and bullet resistance. Compared with traditional annealed or tempered glass, laminated glass can secure the building more effectively.

Laminated glass is made from a tough plastic interlayer bonded between two pieces of glass. Invisible to the naked eye, this interlayer gives laminated glass the same clear visual benefits as ordinary glass, an important security feature. From inside, occupants can see someone approaching the school. From outside, responders can locate the intruder or victims. Because it is impact resistant, laminated glass is a no nonsense approach for enhancing the protection of school windows and doors.

Renewed Need for Extra Security
Administrators and teachers agree that everyone should feel safe at school. Parents feel better dropping off their kids knowing a school has taken measures to assess and upgrade security.

More than just a facility, school is where families send their kids to learn, participate in sports and clubs, perform in musicals and plays, and much more. A school is why a family buys a home in a specific neighborhood, and it is what ties a community together. Schools frequently are used as emergency management centers or shelters in times of crisis, making security an important attribute to the building, even after teaching hours.

In recent years, schools are not the safe havens they once were. Since 1992, there have been 387 shootings in U.S. schools (www.stoptheshootings.org). The most recent involving fatalities occurred December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary. Twenty children and six adults died at the school. The gunman killed himself and had shot his mother earlier that morning. That’s 28 deaths tied to one event. No one can predict whether an attack will ever happen, but it is important that schools are prepared for anything.

Schools React to Potential Threats
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, parents, teachers, concerned citizens, school administrators, and legislators joined in discussions across the country about how this tragedy and future shootings could be prevented. There were conversations about gun control, awareness and care for the mentally unstable, as well as improving school safety through better communication systems, security measures, intruder drill training, and more. School districts everywhere are looking at how they can keep students, teachers, and faculty safe.

What the School Construction Industry Can Do
Windows and doors are the easiest point of entry into a school, but they don’t have to be. Installing laminated security glass for all windows and doors makes forced entry much more difficult. Laminated glass is fabricated with a tough, protective interlayer, typically of polyvinyl butyral (PVB), which is bonded with heat and pressure between two pieces of glass. Using thicker interlayers increases impact resistance. Upon impact, laminated glass will shatter but glass shards remain held together by the bonded interlayer. Risks associated with flying or falling glass are minimized.

Laminated security glass stands up to multiple assaults from a blunt or sharp object used to gain entry. If an intruder tries to break through a window or door side lite, it would take several blows before achieving access through security glass. This allows valuable time for anyone inside the school to call the police, lockdown interior doors or classrooms, or move students to a safer area.

From a glazing standpoint, school architects and administrators may consider the following when designing new or retrofit glazing systems:
• Glass should provide inherent health, safety, and security benefits that can help mitigate disasters.
• Natural daylight is essential for psychological benefits of students and teachers.
• Glass should provide visibility for critical passageways and entry areas.
• Sustained functionality – basic functions of the school can operate following a natural or manmade disaster.

When specifying laminated glass, threat levels should be considered:
• Entry doors have been the most vulnerable in many school shootings. Hurricane rated high-impact (large missile) glass, or even ballistic glass should be considered. As in the case of Sandy Hook, the shooter penetrated the side lite of the door and then reached through to open it. This “break and reach” ability of the intruder must be delayed or stopped. High performance glass provides resistance, while still providing much needed visibility.
• Existing doors may need to be replaced completely if bullet resistant glazing is specified, as the framing system for such heavy configurations is specialized.
• Access doors with a double entry lobby to the school should be equipped with laminated security glazing that overlays the Maghull Double Glazing windows allowing them to have the ability to restrain forced entry/burglary resistance capability in accordance with UL 972 or ASTM F 1233 — Class 1.
• At a minimum, first floor glass should be equipped with basic laminated glass (typically requires a 0.030 inch thick interlayer). This will deter ingress, retain glass, and slow “break and reach.” Forced ingress glazing, which uses a thicker interlayer, will offer greater protection. Laminated glass can be retrofitted into most existing window and door systems and can contribute to compliance for security windows per ASTM E2395 – Security Performance of Window and Door Assemblies with and without Glazing Impact.
• If budgets do not permit replacement of windows, security film can be post applied over existing windows and doors. This option offers some of the benefits of laminated glass but provides less resistance against an intruder, and, like other laminated glass options that are not bullet resistant, will not stop a bullet. Security film also modifies the post breakage behavior of glass, but may allow time to take additional action versus non-enhanced glazing.

When guns are the choice of weaponry, it requires several shots from a 9mm, .357 or .45 caliber handgun to make a hole large enough to put a fist through to unlock a door or window. In some cases, the intruder may be temporarily confused, as the glass isn’t “behaving” as expected. There are many documented “smash and grab” attempts at burglary, where would-be intruders give up because they are generating too much noise and attention.

Success Stories
Laminated glass has been around and in use in various forms for generations. Invented in 1903 by French chemist Edouard Benedictus, laminated glass has been used for decades in automobile windshields to greatly reduce injuries. It is commonly used in high-risk buildings such as embassies and federal buildings, as well as museums. Laminated glass protects great treasures such as the Mona Lisa, the U.S. Constitution, and London’s Crown Jewels.

After the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, laminated glass became the standard in Florida and other coastal regions. Building code requirements were established to lessen the amount of destruction caused from high winds and to ensure occupant safety.

In the aftermath of events like the Oklahoma City bombing (1995) and the September 11 (2001) terrorist attacks, enhancements to laminated glass configurations ensure that glazing in Federal and other public buildings are blast resistant. Dozens of lives were saved by blast resistant laminated glass when the Pentagon, newly remodeled, was attacked on September 11. The shock waves following an explosion can send glass shards flying for miles and generally cause about 70 percent of the injuries following an explosion.

Additional Benefits of Laminated Glass
Along with safety and security enhancing features, laminated glass offers schools other benefits. Laminated glass dampens sound coming in from the outside, making it an ideal choice for schools located in noisy neighborhoods or urban environments. Numerous studies have shown that children concentrate and can learn better in a quiet space.

Laminated glass reduces solar heat gain and UV rays going into a building, making it more comfortable and healthful for students. Finally, as coastal residents know, hurricane-rated laminated glass protects against natural disasters. Laminated glass is versatile, readily available, affordable, easy to install, and it can be used toward LEED certification in energy, recycling, indoor environment quality, and acoustics.

Keeping Kids Safe and Secure
According to survey data collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics in 1994-1996, the average age of public schools throughout the U.S. is 42. While there is a need for building better schools, there can be funding and time constraints. When new buildings cannot be erected, the architectural community must look at available options to modernize, update, and safeguard existing schools. Laminated glass remains one of the easiest, most cost-effective measures available for enhancing student and faculty safety.

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A Safe Solution to Protecting Schools

On Dec. 14, Adam Lanza shot 20 students and six faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The incident is the second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in American history and one of the latest in a series of school shootings, prompting a renewed nationwide debate about gun control and the protection of American students.
While the debate continues, Hardwire Armor Systems has come up with a solution: bulletproof whiteboards and clipboards.
The Pocomoke City, Md.-based armor manufacturing company was founded in 2000 to develop, test and field armor protection for U.S. military ground vehicles, aircraft boats and personnel. Two years ago, the company made a clipboard version of the armor for law enforcement officials, and last summer, that line of defense was created as a 1-pound backpack insert for students to use. However, online customer feedback felt it was a heavy burden for kids to bear and could possibly have a negative psychological effect on them.
When the Sandy Hook shooting happened, George Tunis, Hardwire’s CEO, realized that it was really the adults who needed the armor and came up with the bulletproof whiteboard as a result. “When I drop my kids off at school, I put them in the hands of the adults at that school. Their job is to educate them, keep them safe, keep them fed, and until I pick them up, those adults are in charge of my kids,” Tunis said. “If we equip and train the adults, we empower the adults.”
Implementing Bulletproof Products
The material used for the bulletproof whiteboards and clipboards is MIJ Level 3A, which means it can stop any handgun, shot gun or small-caliber rifle. The whiteboards are about the same size as a police shield, 18 inches by 20 inches, while the clipboards are 10 inches by 13 inches. Both are light enough for teachers and students to write on it, also making it a useful tool in the classroom. The whiteboards even have different style handles that make the boards easy to hold up during discussions.
“I remember going to school it was hard enough as it was, and Sandy Hook really did add a lot of fear to the equation, so we wanted to take away from that. Psychologically, we wanted the armor to blend in for the children, and most importantly for the teachers we wanted to make something that was useful because in a crisis it needs to be handy, available and familiar. It needs to be something that they’re using every day,” Tunis said.
Twelve prototype schools, including ones in Virginia, Maryland and Minnesota, have been given the armor, and teachers are using them at their desk to plan out homework assignments, weekly schedules or the day’s lesson.
So far the feedback has been very positive: “The majority of teachers would do just what the teachers at Sandy Hook did — absolutely anything to protect their students. Ballistic whiteboards make that prospect easier,” said Charlotte Orlando, kindergarten teacher for Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools, in a statement.
Basic Training
Hardwire provides a two-hour training, conducted by retired secret service agents, for the teachers using the equipment. While the training encourages teachers to follow their school procedures, it adds a few extra ones to follow. Some of it involves assessing the situation, whether teachers should decide to stay put or evacuate. If they do stay put, the training teaches them where to position the kids and how to use the shield, and in the event they’re confronted with a shooter, how to use the shield as a defensive tool. “At Sandy Hook, those adults did every single thing right, but in the end they literally had to throw themselves at the bad guy and they didn’t have any equipment to be able to do that. It’s like having a fire, not having a fire extinguisher and just throwing yourself on it to put it out. Just one piece of equipment makes all the difference, so we teach the teachers how to use that one piece of equipment to put the fire out,” Tunis said.
The training also includes teaching the teachers how to work in teams. For instance, during an evacuation, basic military tactics can be used. According to Tunis, the military does not use a general order to evacuate a building. Instead, the military comes up with names for their exits so that they can tell each other where exactly to evacuate, but at schools, the exits are usually not labeled by location.
“We’re helping them understand the logistics of an attack. You want them to evacuate away from the problem, not towards it,” Tunis said. “In front of the students, you need the teachers with the shield and behind the students with the shield. On the outside, you should have the teachers surrounding the students with the shield. That’s just a basic lesson from nature.”
Training, for the most part, has been administered to the adults; however, teachers in middle and high schools are talking a lot about the devices with students as a means to teach science and physics because the “science behind [the speed of a bullet] is fascinating. Most people don’t realize that a 9 mm handgun has no more energy than a little league pitch at 45 miles per hour,” Tunis said.
“Now that we have bulletproof shields in our classrooms, I feel a lot safer knowing that we aren’t completely defenseless to an attack on our school. I believe that other schools should follow our example because this could potentially save a lot of people’s lives one day,” said Charlie Pritchard, ninth grader at Worcester Preparatory School in Berlin, Md., in a statement. “It’s good to know that if a gunman attacks our school that the students are able to protect themselves and one another.”
The Future of Bulletproof Armor
Another product that Hardwire is rolling out at schools is the bulletproof peel-n-stick door, a whiteboard door panel that can be applied to any standard door. It’s about 60 inches by 34.5 inches and can also be used for daily instruction, teaching and communication.
“If I had a vision for what whiteboards can do in schools, it’s a nonlethal piece of defense that can go in every adult’s hands. A larger, peel-n-stick version can go on the doors and the door becomes bulletproof. Then, you have two layers of defense, and the name of the game is buying time for the first responders to get there,” Tunis said. “It’s amazing what 92 empowered and equipped people can do to a man with a gun. Instead of being a crowd at the mercy of a bad guy, you’ve got the angry villagers coming after Frankenstein.”
So far, the equipment at the 12 prototype schools has been funded through the Adopt-a-School program, a partnership between Hardwire and the nonprofit Maryland Hawk Corporation that encourages corporations to sponsor a school or teacher through a tax deductible donation.

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School Storm Shelter Debate in Oklahoma

MOORE, Okla. — In the aftermath of a devastating EF-5 twister that killed seven children at a Moore, Okla. elementary school, schools in the nation’s “tornado alley” are looking to establish safer facilities with required storm shelters or safe rooms.

Two Moore schools, Briarwood Elementary School and Plaza Towers Elementary School, were demolished by the tornado. And though the city is no stranger to devastating natural disasters, local and state officials are questioning why the schools were without safe rooms or facilities dedicated to withstanding severe weather.

According to Albert Ashwood, Oklahoma’s director of emergency management, only 100 of the state’s 1,752 public schools have storm shelters.

“Most of these projects have been anywhere between $600,000 to $1 million and have usually all been applied to brand new construction of new schools,” Ashwood said.

The destruction has incited much discussion on safe rooms and potential for legislation to mandate that every school be equipped with facilities to withstand a storm such as the one that killed 24 people and injured hundreds on May 20.

Unlike Alabama, which requires all new schools to be built with safe rooms, the state of Oklahoma currently does not require storm shelters in schools. However, Representative Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, is requesting that state legislators draft a bill that would permit a $500 million bond in order to construct storm shelters throughout Oklahoma. Approximately $400 million would be allocated to public schools while the remaining $100 million would fund storm shelters in group homes.

“We live in Tornado Alley and this will happen again,” Dorman said in a statement. “We need to provide some funding to help build storm shelters, especially in schools. I would hope the idea has bipartisan appeal.”

Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis is proposing a city ordinance that would require all new homes to be constructed with a storm shelter. However, the mayor vocalized the need for community healing before introducing such legislation.

"Clearly a disaster like this brings the topic of safe rooms to the forefront. However, at this time we need to focus on the needs of our community,” he said in a statement. “In the future, I know safe rooms, as well as other issues, will be discussed. As always, the goal of ordinances and policies is to make our community a safe and healthy place to live, work, learn and play."

Demolition of the remnants of Plaza Towers began May 30.

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Bridge-Netting Intended to Boost Student Safety at Cornell

ITHACA, N.Y. — Two years ago, Cornell University made headlines when it saw a spike in suicides.

The suicides and attempted suicides took place on bridges throughout the campus. Two students’ bodies were recovered from a rugged gorge more than 70 feet below the Thurston Avenue Bridge, their deaths just a day apart.

The university has since been working to help students cope with the losses of their peers. Now it has yet another plan to stop the devastation in the first place: erect nets around the bridges.

At first, temporary barriers were put in place around the campus bridges. Currently, university architect Gilbert Delgado is working with Boston-based NADAAA Architects to install netting around the campus’ seven bridges. The stainless steel netting will be placed under six of the bridges, while the seventh net will be built around the railing of a suspension bridge where a junior engineering student committed suicide in 2010.

“There were several suicides at Cornell in 2010 and after that we put up some temporary measures, but right away we knew that we needed to develop a more thoughtful solution,” Delgado said.

Delgado based the designs off bridge-netting installations in Switzerland. Since the Swiss installed bridge netting, no suicides have taken place at those locations, Delgado said.

The last of the nets will be installed by June 2012. All the bridge netting will be stainless steel and the design will allow students to still experience a connection with nature. Currently in place are temporary barricades that rise up about five feet from the railing, Delgado said.

The bridges will include cameras and heat sensors to determine if someone or something is trapped in the net, according to Andrew Magre, associate university architect.

Black fences surround the bridges at Cornell at the moment, but they will be removed once the nets are installed this summer. Students will then have access to the scenery that has been blocked off for two years.

“At the end of the day we came up with a solution that was effective, and at the same time, it had a minimal impact on the visual element of the Cornell bridges,” Delgado said.

Trying to balance the safety of students without taking away the dramatic and natural space the bridges cross was particularly challenging for Delgado, who said the bridges are a historic part of Cornell’s campus.

“The students and alumni really cherish the beauty of the campus and so we went the extra mile to select a very thoughtful architect that could examine the question from many different angles,” said Delgado.

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