Glass staircases are safe and sound if manufactured with safety glass panels and comply to the current building regulations and standards.
The Safety Glass is a toughened laminated glass, much stronger and safer than the ordinary glass. This is why the safety glass is widely used in cars windows, windshields but also in residential projects, for example on interior glass bridges, glass doors, shower doors, glass walls or commercial projects as shop fronts, glass desks, glass canopies.
Tempered or toughened glass
The tempering treatment increases the glass strength so that it cannot break easily. If this happens, the toughened glass brakes into small round and safe pieces rather than sharp splinters.
Laminated Glass
A further level of safety is given by the lamination process which allows the splinters to remain together in a unique glass panel. Look what happens if a glass step brakes:
The glass panel remains a unique piece and there are no dangerous splinters around, no sharp edges, therefore no danger.
This is not all. Some of our clients wants to have a shattered glass as special feature or pattern in their treads or railing. Here is a railing we have just designed.
Are glass staircases safe? What is your opinion? Here are more information on safety glass stairs & railings.
Glass treads
The steps on our staircases are usually made of toughened and laminated glass with a thickness of about 33 mm (3 layers of toughened glass of 10 mm each and two layers of 1.52 mm PVB films between them).
Glass balustrades
The glass thickness used on railings and balustrade is instead 21.52 mm (2 layers of toughened glass of 10 mm joint by a layer of 1.52 PVB film).
Those thicknesses give a very high level of safety as recommended by staircases building regulations in many countries around the world.
Are glass staircases safe? Glass fixing systems on staircases
The safety of a staircase is given however not only by the use of certified safety glass but also on the type of fixings used to fix the glass to the staircase main structure (central spine or stringers). We only use systems that are tested and structurally checked to support the required load.
Glass fixing systems on landing balustrades and guard rails
On top of the staircase we often need to fit a balustrade to protect the ceiling opening or a mezzanine. Also in this case the ceiling slab and the mezzanine have to be built in a structurally sound way to support the glass balustrade load. Glass balustrades are therefore safe if they can be fixed to a structurally sound support.
There are different ways to fix the glass balustrade to the slab or mezzanine. On side mounted glass panels we can use certified stainless steel stand-off visible fixings (stainless steel bolts). Another very elegant and neat, seamless system is to cover the glass fixing with a stainless steel, powder coated or wood fascia.
If you want the glass balustrade fixed to top of floor, we can use an aluminum rail to hold the glass. The rail is normally hidden inside the floor and the effect you have is the glass coming out directly from the floor, with no visible supports.
Are glass staircases safe? Anti-slip features to improve safety on glass staircase treads
The glass treads are less slippery of you have two or three frosted strips on them. This option is very elegant but the frosted strips are sometimes not so easy to keep clean.
You can also have non-slip strips glued on treads, which may be replaced from time to time.
The most elegant option is however to have treads made of etched glass, though this is a more expensive option.
Now you that know everything on safety glass on stairs are you ready to have your new glass staircase installed in your house?
As you mentioned earlier, the thicker our glass balustrades the safer they would be for people to use on a regular basis. This holiday season, renovating his house atrium has been one of my uncle’s plan. I’ll suggest this option to him so the end result will look smashing.