After Kerala woman dies running into glass door, Collector frames rules for glass usage

Following the death of a woman in Ernakulam district, after she accidentally collided into a glass door at a bank, District Collector S Suhas has issued an order asking commercial establishments to maintain the quality of its glass doors. The Collector has asked all commercial outlets in the district to replace glass doors of poor quality.

It was on Monday that 46-year-old Beena Jiju Paul, a resident of Perumbavoor, died after getting injured when she accidentally collided into the glass door, which shattered into large glass pieces. The incident took place at the Bank of Baroda branch in Perumbavoor. The woman collided into the glass door as she was running out of the bank to take the key that she had left behind in the vehicle. The incident had come as a shocker for many.

“It has been understood that the glass used for the door at the bank was annealed glass and that was the reason it broke into huge pieces, which pierced the woman and led to her death,” said District Collector, who is also the chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority. An annealed glass is weaker than other types of glasses, such as temper glass, and is relatively cheaper. During an impact, the glass breaks into large sharp shards.

The District Collector has also issued a set of guidelines that have to be adhered to by commercial outlets while fixing glass doors and glass walls. They are as follows:

• - There should be markings on glass walls to specify and to grab the attention of people about the glass wall. The transparency of the glass should not give a false assumption to people that the space is vacant.
• - When such glass walls have to be used for partition, the annealed glass should not be used.
• - Only tempered or toughened glass should be used. Such glasses, during an impact, will not break as large pieces; it will only shatter into pellets.
• - In the case of glass doors, it should be clearly stated either ‘push’ or ‘pull’ in both Malayalam and English language.     

The order specifies that commercial establishments, which have used annealed glass for its doors, have to change it into tempered or toughened glass within 45 days.

The order has entrusted secretaries of local bodies to ensure that the guidelines are followed by commercial outlets.

Read: Kerala woman dies after colliding into glass door, accident caught on CCTV

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