Posted By Trudy Clements Has anyone done surveys or assessed the glazing in sheltered housing schemes? Who did these surveys? What action did you take to rectify non conforming glazing? (Film, replacement glass etc.) Can any one help with this request? p.s. I understand the requirements of the WHSWRegs.

Posted By Ken Taylor As sheltered residents tend to be tenants rather than persons in care, the strict appilcation of the Workplace (HS&W) Regs would be within the common and staff parts of the premises - but it's good to treat them all the same. Personally, I have borrowed a Sharples safety glass indicator kit for the inspections. It should be noted that laminated glass will generally conform as safety glazing but will not have a BS kitemark as toughened glass. A combination of safety film and installing protective barriers/ fixed furniture will probably suffice with, perhaps one or two replacement panes. Needless to say when annealed glass panes do break, safety glass replacement should be considered as the norm.

Posted By Ken Taylor I borrowed the kit from the local authority - who use it for checking prospective childminders premises, etc. They are manufactured by Sharples Engineering. I could try to get the address if you are interested. Unless you have a lot of glazing to check the purchase price might not be justified. Modern toughened glass can be identified by the BS kitemark whereas some of the older stuff was not marked. Patterns in toughened glass caused by the heat process can be seen by looking through a coloured lens at a light shone through the glass. As to laminated glass, you can usually come to a reasonable decision by measuring the thickness. Ordinary glass sheets normally come in standard thickneses such as 3mm and 4mm whereas laminated glass has a plastic filling to a 'sandwich of two glass sheets and therefore measures an 'odd' thickness such as 6.3mm. Ordinarily you cannot see the plastic sheet unless the edges of the pane are exposed. The proof of the presence of the plastic sheet can be obtained, however, by bouncing an ultrasound signal through the outer sheet of glass and off the plastic sheet back to a receiver which measures the distance travelled. So with an overall measured thickness of 'X' and a measured outer glass sheet of slightly less than 'X/2' there must be an internal plastic sheet and the glass pane laminated! These are the principles upon which the Sharples equipment works. You might, however, be happy just to measure the thickness of the pane and conclude that it's not safety glass if (a) there is no kite mark and (b) it's a standard thickness - and prescribe the application of film, etc. This is a cheaper option! The one remaining question is how to measure the thickness of a pane when you cannot get a measuring instrument to touch both sides. The answer is a cheap piece of folded card with lines printed on it on 2 scales. When held against the glass at a 45 degree angle the point at which two lines converge in the reflection gives you a reading on a printed scale. You used to be able to get these from the Glass and Glazing Federation but I don't know whether they still do them. I got mine from Sharples!