TRAINING QUESTIONS FOR BUILDING REGULATIONS IN ENGLAND & WALES

December 1999

Glazing - safety in relation to impact, opening and cleaning,
Parts N1/ N2/ N3/ N4 Building Regulations

Approved Documents

Part N1, Protection Against Impact.

1. A new shop front is being installed with a part of the glazing going from floor level up to a height of 2.1m. You note the glass sheets for the new windows are 12mm thick. The size of the largest sheet of glass is 2.3m wide. The installer tells you that the glass is ordinary annealed glass. Is this OK for safety?
2. An extension to a house is to have glazed patio doors installed. The owner wishes to use the existing glazed patio doors. How could you check to see if the existing doors had safety glass in the critical locations?
3. A new two storey house has one of the top floor windows 600mm above floor level. You notice that the window is double glazed and that the safety British Standard Kitemark is only visible on the outside sheet of glass. Subsequently you find out that the double glazing unit has been installed inside-out. Assuming that it is not easily possible at this stage to re-install the double glazed unit the right way round, what else could be done to ensure safety?
4. An existing office building is undergoing refurbishment. On one of your visits to site you notice that an existing fire resiting corridor door has had some georgian wire vision panels installed. The glass is 300mm wide and 600mm high. The builder tells you that it is 6mm thick normal georgian wire glass. Why is this a problem? What can be done to resolve the issue?
5. A new retirement home is being constructed as a block of flats with office parts. You notice, on a site visit, that an office has a glazed door and glazed side panel within 1500mm of the floor. The glass used is Pilkington safety georgian wired glass. The size of the side panel, which is within 300mm of the edge of the door, is 920mm wide. Is there a safety problem?

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Part N2, Manifestation of Glazing.

6. A new shop front is installed with large floor to ceiling glass panels. The location of the glass is such that you are concerned someone might not realise the glass was there and collide with it. What needs to be done for safety?
7. A new glass door is being installed accross a corridor. The door has full height 400mm wide glass side panels. Would you be concerned that someone might try to go through the side panels?

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Part N3, Safe Openning and Closing of Windows, etc.

8. A house is having a loft conversion. An openable roof window is to be provided to a new bedroom. The roof window is openable by pulling on a handle at the top of the window. This handle is over 1.9m above floor level being installed at 2.1m above floor level. Why is this acceptable?
9. A large office is being refurbished. The top office is in the roof space. A kitchen is being installed in the loft space and there is to be a roof window over the sink unit. How high above the floor level should the window controls be located?

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Part N4, Safe Access for Cleaning Windows, etc

10. A new office is being built with casement type windows. In assessing if the proposed windows are cleanable from the inside, what is considered to be a safe reach?
11. A new 3 storey office block is proposed. The Architect telephones to ask if they have to install eyebolts for cleaning ladders next to each top floor windows?

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Building Regulations

12. A double glazing contractor is proposing to replace the windows of a small office. Is this work controllable under the Building Regulations?
13. An existing house has such large windows near the boundary with the neighbour that some has had to be fire-resisting. It is proposed to upgrade the glazing of the house with double-glazing. Is this controllable under the building regulations? Does the fire-resisting glazing need to be maintained?

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