WHAT DOES BLAST PROTECTION DO?
When a bomb blast occurs, a wave of pressure radiates out from the center of the blast. When the pressure wave comes into contact with traditional glass, the glass shatters and flies dangerously towards anyone nearby.
Blast protection or blast mitigation, protects the glass from this dangerous pressure wave, keeping it intact and reducing the likelihood of injury due to flying shards of broken glass.
Unfortunately, the threat of bomb blasts is very real and you never know where one could go off. Having the right amount of blast protection for your property’s glass doors and windows can help keep you and your employees safe in the event of a nearby explosion.
Besides the risk of injury, a blast that shatters your windows also means expensive repairs and cleanup, and potentially even more damage inside the building. That’s why it’s so important to protect your glass doors and windows.
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS BLAST PROOF GLASS?
The effectiveness of blast-resistant glass depends on the strength and distance of the blast from the windows. Blast-resistant windows are available in many different compositions and strengths, but the fact is that there are no 100% explosion-proof windows.
In order for blast-resistant windows to work, the material they are made from must be highly impact-resistant and flexible. The best blast-resistant glass actually isn’t made from glass at all, but rather from polycarbonate.
Polycarbonate is a type of naturally transparent thermoplastic. It is incredibly strong and resilient and has 30 times the impact resistance of acrylic. In fact, polycarbonate is so strong that it is considered to be virtually unbreakable.
There’s always a risk of injury and damage due to a nearby bomb blast, and there’s no way to make an explosion-proof building. However, with the right blast-resistant windows, you can drastically increase your property’s blast protection.
RIOT GLASS® BLAST RESISTANT WINDOWS & GLAZING SHIELDS
Riot Glass® offers a full line of polycarbonate glazing shields for blast protection for glass doors and windows.
What’s a glazing shield, you ask? Well, glazing just refers to any type of architectural glass (i.e. glass doors, windows, and walls).
A glazing shield is a type of blast mitigation barrier that we mount in front of your existing glass to protect it and prevent it from shattering dangerously inwards. Our polycarbonate glazing shields are the closest thing you can get to explosion-proof windows.
Even though they’re not technically glass, these blast windows are just as transparent as regular window glass. They also have a special abrasion-resistant coating and a glass-like surface hardness.
When you install Riot Glass® over your existing glass doors and windows, you’re creating an invisible barrier against the primary cause of injuries due to bomb blasts: flying fragments of sharp, jagged glass.
The blast-resistant windows disperse the force of the blast to keep your existing glass intact, protect those inside your property, and reduce expensive repair costs.
Blast Resistant Glass Retrofits
Riot Glass® is designed to be retrofitted into or onto almost any existing glass door or window framing system. The only case in which you might need to replace the framing is if your building is extremely old and the framing has deteriorated.
This makes Riot Glass® a much more affordable solution for blast damage and injury mitigation than other types of blast-resistant glass on the market. Riot Glass® is an ideal solution for government buildings, religious centers, schools, offices, retailers, and more.
We custom-build all our security glazing solutions to fit your property like a glove. We hope you never have to experience a bomb blast, but if you do, there’s no better protection than a Riot Glass® retrofit.
Other Benefits of Riot Glass®
Riot Glass® doesn’t just protect glass doors and windows from bomb blasts. It also provides 24/7 protection against forced entry, burglary, vandalism, rioting, looting, active threats, storm damage, and other threats.
It doesn’t matter what type of impact it is, Riot Glass® will protect your existing glass and prevent it from shattering, keeping bad guys or inclement weather out, and saving you the hassle of expensive repairs.
We also have a complete range of ballistic-grade glazing shields with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) ratings up to a UL 752 Level 8 rating. This means the glazing shield can stop a high-speed, multi-shot attack from an AK-47 rifle using .308 150-grain military rounds.
The best part about retrofitting your property with Riot Glass® is that it doesn’t significantly change the appearance of your glass doors and windows, block out natural light, or block your views.
All our products are designed to have a minimal footprint, so your business or commercial facility doesn’t lose its curb appeal and your windows don’t lose their functionality.
