Written By: Brad Campbell | September 23, 2022
While relatively rare, accidental and intentional blasts are a real threat that can affect businesses and commercial facilities.
Even if a business is not the source or intended target of a blast, nearby blasts can still cause major damage to storefront glass, and flying shards of glass can cause serious injury to people inside.
That’s why commercial building owners need to take steps to mitigate the risks of damage and injury from things like gas-related explosions and bomb blasts.
Specifically, you should protect your business’s primary storefront glass with protective security glazing, such as our ArmorPlast® blast-resistant glass overglazing solution.
Whenever a bomb goes off or another type of explosion occurs, the source of the blast sends out powerful thermal shockwaves. Depending on the force of the blast, these shockwaves can damage buildings in a very large radius around the source.
When one of these thermal shockwaves impacts an unprotected window, it causes it to shatter into tons of sharp, jagged pieces of glass.
In the best case scenario, this leaves your storefront and interior devastated and in need of expensive cleanup and repairs. In the worst case, the sharp shards of glass fly dangerously inwards and hurt, maim, or even kill someone on the other side of the glass inside your property.
Large blasts can cause these effects in a periphery many blocks away from the actual site of the explosion.
This is why it’s so important for building owners to take the appropriate steps to mitigate blast-related glass hazards, even if the risk of your property being the target of a bomb attack or the source of an accidental explosion is relatively low.
That’s where ArmorPlast® security glazing comes in…
ArmorPlast® is the best blast-resistant glazing solution because it does not actually contain any glass, so it doesn’t shatter and fly inwards like glass does. ArmorPlast® is made of polycarbonate, a highly impact-resistant form of thermoplastic that is virtually unbreakable.
ArmorPlast® is a retrofit security glazing solution that can be overglazed (installed on top of) your existing commercial glass to protect it against all types of impacts, including blast shockwaves.
Although there is no such thing as blast-proof glass or glazing, polycarbonate offers some of the best resistance you can find against blasts.
In many cases, depending on how close and how strong a nearby blast is, the glass behind the polycarbonate remains intact, keeping your business and people totally safe.
Even if the existing glass does break, the polycarbonate helps to absorb some of the force of the blast, so the glass doesn’t completely shatter and there is less risk of injury from flying shards of glass.
ArmorPlast® retrofit security glazing performs much better against blasts than other types of security glass that are intended to replace the existing glass, such as security laminated glass.
This is because these other types of glazing contain glass, so they can still spall and shatter if an impact is strong enough.
Not only does ArmorPlast® blast-resistant polycarbonate mitigate the risks of glass hazards, but it cuts down on storefront and interior repair costs in the unfortunate event that a blast affects your building.
Besides providing a very high level of blast resistance, ArmorPlast® polycarbonate security glazing protects your facility against a full range of other security threats. These include:
Because polycarbonate is so impact resistant, it denies access during forced entry attempts using bats, pry bars, sledgehammers, and other common burglary tools.
When you retrofit your business with ArmorPlast®, unsuspecting criminals’ attempts to force entry will be met with frustration, and they’re likely to move on and look for an easier target.
When combined with other components of a comprehensive commercial security system, such as monitored alarms and surveillance systems, polycarbonate security glazing provides the highest level of protection against forced entry and burglary.
Civil unrest can occasionally flare up and lead to violent rioting and looting, which can be devastating to businesses.
ArmorPlast® polycarbonate security glazing provides 24/7 protection against these threats, so you don’t have to worry about boarding up your business if civil unrest threatens your property.
ArmorPlast® fully covers your existing glass and protects it from impacts that may be caused by malicious vandalism. It also has a special protective coating that makes it highly resistant to scratching and marring.
Another way ArmorPlast® acts as an alternative to boarding up windows is for storm damage mitigation.
Flying storm debris is no match for these polycarbonate barriers, which are even tested according to Miami-Dade hurricane missile impact testing standards.
This means ArmorPlast® has been tested as a hurricane mitigation barrier to perform well in the most at-risk area of the country.. It can be used in place of hurricane shutters, storm panels, and plywood board ups.
ArmorPlast® is available in a variety of models, from containment-grade (non-ballistic) AP25, up through various levels of UL 752-rated (ballistic-grade) polycarbonate glazing shields.
All of these protect against active threats by denying attackers access, as even containment-grade AP25 will not significantly diminish in strength or allow an attacker to pass through, even after being riddled with bullets.
Depending on the level of active threat protection you require, we offer retrofit security glazing with up to a UL 752 Level 6 rating.
Contact Riot Glass, LLC today for more information about our blast-resistant glazing solutions or to schedule a free consultation or threat assessment.
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