Why Your Glass Desks Should Be Made from Tempered Glass
Tagged as: Information, Tips
When considering a glass desk for your home or office, one of your major concerns might be about the furniture’s safety — after all, glass can break. If your desk breaks, not only could your computer or other equipment sitting on the desk be at risk, the shards of glass could also easily injure you, your coworkers or your family members.
However, most, if not all of the glass desks on the market today, including black glass desks, are made with tempered glass, which reduces the safety risks dramatically.
Tempered glass, also known as toughened glass or safety glass, is glass that has undergone a special heating-and-cooling process to make it far stronger than regular glass. Tempered glass is also stronger than heat-strengthened glass, which undergoes a similar process.
Regular glass can break fairly easily, and when it does it tends to break into sharp, potentially dangerous shards. These shards make both the accident itself and the clean-up incredibly unsafe. Tempered glass, on the other hand, is much harder to break, due to the strengthening process. It can take far more stress than regular glass, but this doesn’t mean it’s indestructable. In the event that tempered glass does break, it is created so that it’s unlikely to break into shards. Instead, tempered glass will usually shatter into small, pebble-like pieces, drastically reducing the risk of injury associated with normal broken glass.
Here are some glass desk safety tips:
1. Before you purchase a desk be sure it is made with tempered glass. Check with the salesperson, or read the information in the ad or on the box very carefully.
2. Don’t overload the desk. This can especially be a concern with a glass computer desk. Check the information that comes with the desk to see how much weight it can safely hold.
3. Make sure children know not to play around the desk, hang or sit on it, or do anything else that could compromise the glass and their own safety.
4. If you are looking into home office glass desks and you have small or very rambunctious children, for their safety and your own peace of mind a glass desk may not be the best choice.
Well-made modern glass desks are generally very stable and sturdy, but there will always be risks associated with glass that are not shared by other materials, such as wood. However, the aesthetic benefits of glass often make these risks worth taking. As long as your desk is made of tempered glass and general safety precautions are followed, you’re sure to enjoy your desk for years to come!
Comments Off