That's terrible. Why wouldn't there be standards on glass furniture? That seems much easier to break accidentally than a glass shower door...

I've got a glass-topped table in my house, and I worry about it killing me every time I move it. (Seriously. The top weighs something like 80 lbs. and I worry that it will break in half under its own weight when I pick it up). I can get behind the idea of safety standards for glass furniture.

Maybe jumping on/falling on something is more the issue than whether manufacturers are using tempered glass. If kids are going to be doing dangerous things like that odds are they'll get hurt. Sure it's sad when someone ends up dead, but that's the risk you take when you do dangerous things. If someone's kid was jumping on their bed and ended up paralyzed or something you wouldn't go to the manufacturer telling them their product needs to be safer.

I've never understood glass furniture because of this issue. I can understand if people without kids get them, but they've always seemed too prone to accidents with kids. Kids love to jump on couches, along with jump off of them; they love to run around and wrestle; they love to stand on things to feel taller; and more.

Making them from safety glass seems like a great idea. Would it be more expensive? I don't know the price of such a material.

ELAINE: What is this?

KRAMER: Well, it's a windshield. It's going to be your new coffee table.

ELAINE: I'm going to kill myself on that thing! You can't even see it.

JERRY: You'll sense it.

Ummm...no sh*t?

Same thing goes for glass doors on your entertainment center or bookshelves. I've cut myself on those many a time. The broken edges are covered in microscopic shards and will rip you to pieces.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go load my steak knives in the dishwasher, pointy side up (they get cleaner that way)

on my GFs 21st she got pushed and put her foot through her glass table in the living room. there was blood everywhere and she had to be rushed to the hospital. thank god she hadnt been drinking yet or the wound would have been uncontrollable.

Sounds like we need a law. Hopefully the new Congress can take up this issue next year. Maybe it can even appoint a Glass Table Czar to oversee an industry that has apparently shunned self-regulation.

completely off topic...this article reminded me of a very oddly horrible dream i had last night.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go load my steak knives in the dishwasher, pointy side up (they get cleaner that way)

*scratches head*
i know your kidding, but thats what ive always done. and its worked wonders.

I've got a scar on my arm from going through a glass coffee table when I was two, so no shit.

When we bought our house, the old owners left the glass topped dining room table becaue the thing weighed about 200 pounds. A few years later, our son was born and I constantly worried about him gouging his eye out on the corners (Yes--I did have guards on them)--I still worried.

Was so glad when we able to sucker someone into a free dining room table and chairs---and yes---they had to move it.

That's terrible what happened to the little girl, but would a tempered coffee table really work? Having had a tempered-glass fridge shelf explode in my hand just from putting it down on the floor at a weird angle, it seems like putting down a glass or a remote too hard onto a tempered glass table could make it explode.

Of course for all I know plenty of tables already are tempered glass and there are ways to make it resilient. Anyone know?

@silverundertone: I only nod to that because a young girl died when falling onto steak knives in an open dishwasher about a year or two ago.

Basically, random bad stuff happens and you have to be a little extra careful with kids around.

@formergr: And I'm using explode in a slightly exaggerated sense-- it basically just makes this really loud "pop" noise, and the next thing you know little round pieces of glass are pouring everywhere.

Screw people falling on glass tables. Some extremely cheap glass tables have a habit of shattering under normal use. Quite often those are cheap, glass TV stands that can't handle the weight they're supposedly rated for.

This scenario sounds like a failure of regulation. If storm and shower doors are required to have safety glass, why not glass furniture? Sure, three children on average dying as a result of cheap glass furniture isn't much; it is less than 0.000001% of the US population. Still some people would say that's three children too many, especially the parents of those children.

Some people will whine and complain about the cost of regulation, and the low number of deaths and injuries. Again, let's see what the parents say about that. When my sister was a baby, she banged her head on a wood table. You should have seen the horror in my mom's eyes when she saw that the table made an impression in my sister's skin. It was so deep that it could have easily nicked her skull. If that table was glass, who knows what could have happened.

@rpm773: It's the damn socialist liberals banning lead and making glass all breaky and stabby!

I still have scars on my right hand from the time when I was helping my dad move a glass table and he dropped his side, causing the glass to break and slice my hand on its way to the floor.

@ThunderSaid: Maybe we should go the other way- instead of government regulations, maybe common sense.
I completely understand the hidden dangers lurking everywhere about the house, but this should really be addressed in "baby proofing" your house.

NOT blaming OP... but I mistrust glass tables for my home and I don't even have kids; never even knew about this safety-glass stuff, just assumed that glass was glass, i.e. prone to the breaking and the cutting and the hurting.
That said, what a heartbreaker. All sympathy to the parents.

@rpm773: One more Czar means one less danger in the world. To paraphrase Ricky Bobby: "Help! I'm covered in glass! Help me Jesus! Help me Oprah! Help me Obama!"

I can hear the manufacturer's screaming now: "Uncontrolled, rampant Democratic, Socialist, Communistic regulation! You will bring down civilization and the economy if you regulate (fill in the blank)! We'd rather you let us endanger your and your family's life!" ;-)

Safety glass should not only be mandated for all furniture, but the companies should have had the common sense to use it all along. Common sense? What was I thinking! It saves two cents not to use it! Profits! Profits!

Who says the Ferengi are made up aliens?

I've been afraid of glass tables since I was little. They just look dangerous! I needed furniture and my brother was going to give me his living room set of glass topped tables. I have a six year old and a two year old. There's no way I would allow glass tables in my house. I decided not to accept my mother's old Martha Stewart glass patio table either after finding out that they can spontaneously shatter.

Sure they look all modern, but what's the price to pay? Lacerations and possible death?

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares:
i still have the scar under my chin from when i was a baby, and fell off the back of a chair onto an open dishwasher door.

regardless of how careful one may be, accidents can still happen. though i believe that up to a point, its a necessary consequence that is there to be learned from, its still terrible when someone dies as a result.

My mom lost her balance once walking by an old glass coffee table and fell through it. I was only about 12 at the time and it scared the SHIZNIT out of me, luckily when I pulled her up she was unscathed. As an adult I've never had the urge to own glasstop furniture.

@formergr: Remembering from the story about the "exploding" glass in the Martha Stewart tables, the reason this happens is that the glass edges were not shaped and smoothed properly. When they do them wrong like that, they can receive pressure in a specific spot from contact with he frame, like a slight flexing (or your mentioned odd angle placement), which hits a stress point *just* right and makes the pane shatter.

@rpm773:
then they may need a bailout....

@formergr: I had a glass patio table self-destruct while I was moving something from underneath it. A million pieces seems like a conservative estimate, but no jagged edges and no injuries. Just a huge pile of tiny glass pieces.

@formergr: Poorly tempered glass will explode when any kind of off-center stress is applied.

[en.wikipedia.org]
This has pictures of a properly tempered glass booth that was vandalized.

I used to work for a glass company. Here is why you don't use safety glass for coffee tables: Tempered Glass (safety glass) is incredibly strong in the middle. We used to hit them with hammers and they would not break. The weak point is at the edges. If we barely tap the edge with the hammer, it would shatter. A glass-top coffee table that has no frame cannot be used for the same reason. To solve this issue, manufacturers use thicker non-Tempered glass for tables. If you round the edges and have glass over 1/2 thick, you should be ok. It will take a lot of force to break through a 1/2 sheet of glass. Lesson: Don't go cheap on your glass top. Get a thick one.

I always assumed at least the frameless glass tables were safety glass of some kind. That it is not is truly scary. It should be tempered safety glass with the plastic layers imbeded like windshield glass. I am sure that would jack the price though. But I would rather have safety than dead people.

@Urgleglurk: Maybe you haven't noticed - we live in a Wal-Mart culture that demands rock-bottom prices on EVERYTHING. We, the consumers, put pressure on manufacturers to cut corners to cut prices.

When my wife and I were first married, we got two glass tables. After our first son was born, we put them away in the attic. They'll come out after the kids are either old enough to know better, or better yet out of the house.

@Urgleglurk: No need for common sense. It takes one company to label their tables as ''safe glass used here'', and competitors will follow.
(Since as consumer I will buy the safe glass table!@)

@Cocotte: Pfft, kids can do a lot of things. My friend burnt the wooden coffee table... So kids will always find something to destroy.

Doors at my old church were definitely not safety glass. Game of tag resulted in 63 stitches to repair my arm. French doors at my old house also was not. No stitches for that one but a big scar is still there.

I guess this means I should avoid glass coffee tables like the plague.

@ThinkerTDM: I am trying to find the logic of common sense because if I want glass furniture where am I supposed to buy the safe stuff at? Maybe the government shouldn't force companies but make them label clearly if it is standard or safety glass for consumers to choose.

It's a good thing my best friend and I are morons and already broke my set of glass end tables so my son is TOTALLY safe.

As safe as he can be being cared for by two people who think it's ok to sit/stand on glass tables.

@OmniZero: I got my glass coffee table about 5 years ago. We have a one-year-old now though, and she's just really starting to run around for the last few months. I was thinking about the coffee table recently -- it's really no big deal now but in about another year she'll be trying to dive off the couch, etc.

This particular table is just one large rectangular glass top. I'm thinking we'll most likely just replace the glass with safety glass.

@ThinkerTDM: I know that most people don't enjoy the government controling more aspects of every day life, but in this case I think it would be a good thing - for the small increase in cost for glass furniture, we can cut out 20k ER visits a year.

I mean, if we do it your way, 'common sense', as consumers we will have no other way of knowing what type of glass it is aside from the box and more likely taking the minimum wage sale's persons word for it. We aren't going to buy two tables and smash one to make sure.

I predict that glass furniture makers receive the next bailout as they will soon be forced to retool their factories to create furniture out of safety glass.

@midwestkel: I agree. This is an instance where consumer knowledge could correct the issue. I would not be opposed to Gov't-mandated labeling, but a requirement to use it in all furniture may be too much.

Orimarily the destinction is between annealed glass and tempered glass. Annealed glass has a typical breaking stress of 6000 psi, whereas tempered glass is around 24,000 psi. Tempered glass will also break into small chunks (known as dicing) rather than shards (like annealed does). The glass edges are still very sharp, but lack the protrusions to make massive puncture wounds. Tempered glass can still be broken fairly easily however if struck on the edges, or very near the edge (very difficult to break by striking in the center of a pane).

Automotive glass, sliding doors, shower doors and the like are all made from tempered glass. It is heavier and more expensive, but safer.

If you have a table with annealed glass, a local glass shop should be able to get you custom-made tempered glass for it. Expect it to be costly since tempered glass cannot be cut (it will simply shatter) and thus will have to be custom-made.

@Urgleglurk, InfiniTrent, & InfiniTrent: I agree with you that the option should be there, however the use of annealed glass in many products makes them cost-effective and affordable. Since safety-glass (tempered glass) cannot be cut, and has to be custom-made for its purpose, it can be significantly more expensive.

I think a better option is to educate people on the differences in glass, and that some glass is more safe than others. The young, inferm, and elderly should probably not have annealed glass in high-traffic areas, but it should still be fine in doors and small windows.

Now demanding the option from a retailer would be an excellent idea, but don't try and be everybody's white-knight and make my decisions for me.

Loadable, unlocked handguns and glass tables are Charles Darwin's way of gently cooing, "Bad idea, silly spawner!"
If only modern society would give Chas the props of automatically delaying the EMT response by a factor of ten in households w/ children and either of the above and this thing would sort itself out in about a generation or so...

Not to put too fine of a point on this, but no shit. They're made of glass. When they break, they have sharp edges. I think everybody needs some glass furniture of some kind just to have as a reminder to their children, "Don't bang on that or it'll break -- and you could get cut... or worse."

I prefer to let my children go outside and play with lawn darts and juggle knives.

"There's really no way to tell if your glass table is made with safety glass..."

Well, there is one way...

@rpm773: "In this session of congress we will be discussing the mandate that all cars be made entirely from rubber."

@formergr: It also could have been an issue of temperature shock, combined with the odd-angle stress.

@OmniZero: The only people I've ever seen break glass furniture (so far in my life anyway) are adults! :)

Anyway, I avoid it myself because it just seems so dangerous. Then again, it might not be so great that I have wood and leather-topped furniture because apparently nobody knows how to use a coaster anymore. *grouse*

@esthermofet: +1. Your most important job as a parent is to keep your child alive. Epic parenting fizzail