Shanghai has been stricken with a plague of exploding glass windows, as substandard materials, design and maintenance meet fierce summer heat. From Shanghai Daily last week:
“Poor quality, improper design or installation or maintenance of the glass door and the scorching weather are all possible causes for the incident,” said Lu Jinlong of the Shanghai Research Institute of Building Sciences.
Similar glass “explosions” or glass “bombs” falling off sides of high-rises have occurred frequently in the city during the past weeks, prompting concerns about the glass materials’ safety. A piece of glass on the 38th floor in the Shanghai International Finance Center broke into pieces on Wednesday ….
Meanwhile, a piece of glass in the One Lujiazui office tower broke on Monday, two months after a glass-shattering incident there damaged dozens of cars.
A glass platform barrier in Metro Line 10 suddenly exploded on Tuesday. An identical shield also shattered in Metro Line 11 on July 14.
And from Global Times on Friday:
Skyscraper owners and managers held the prime responsibility for the glass in their glass buildings, Deputy Mayor Shen Jun announced at a press conference on Wednesday.
“The city government must step up its efforts to prevent such accidents to minimize economic losses as well as injuries to residents,” he also said ….
The rate of exploding glass was about two windows in a 1,000, according to Fang, “too high odds to be ignored” for a metropolis like Shanghai ….
“The country’s technical standard does not meet that of the World Trade Organization,” Lu [Jinlong, also quoted by the Shanghai Daily] said.
“Although that does not necessarily mean that the glass walls are of poorer quality than those built by other more developed countries, Shanghai’s skyscrapers need more efficient and thorough safety checks to examine the glass walls’ quality.”
