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Chicago Glass Conference Concludes with Updates to School Security, Advocacy

Post Time:Jul 22,2022Classify:Industry NewsView:1305

The 2022 NGA Glass Conference: Chicago continued on Wednesday at the Renaissance Hotel in Northbrook, Ill., with several committees providing updates on legislative initiatives, developer tools and school security.

The 2022 NGA Glass Conference: Chicago continued on Wednesday at the Renaissance Hotel in Northbrook, Ill.

The third day of the conference began with the Advocacy Committee meeting, which focused on the impacts of light on human health along with legislative bill tracking.

The committee opened with a discussion on the presentation about The Physiological Impacts of Light on Human Health and the Implications of Glazing. A recently-formed task group is monitoring research concerning light and human health and the implications of glazing.

One key takeaway was how the lack of light has a significant impact on human health, promoting the need for more glass in buildings. The committee cited a study that found children in Singapore had a 50 percent reduction in myopia when they spent two hours outdoors. The big question, the committee asked, was “what does this mean for the glazing community?” The committee task force will continue to further discuss the research.

The Advocacy Committee then moved to legislative issues. The first topic was the Build Back Better Plan. The committee stated that nothing should be expected out of the bill, especially with midterm elections approaching. The committee also covered one-pagers that originated from a trip to Washington, D.C., for the association’s Glazing Advocacy Day. These one-pagers included topics on bird-friendly glazing in buildings, high-performance glazing, school security and recyclability.

The Forming Committee provided updates on the Buy Clean California Act (BCCA), health product declarations, the Coated Glass AIA presentation and the EC3 tool.

Urmilla Sowell, NGA’s advocacy and technical services director, said BCCA is the world’s first legislative push to target supply chain carbon emissions. According to Sowell, the legislation now sets the global warming potential limit to the industry average, while the NGA pushed for 20 percent above average. An update will be provided at the next meeting.

The final item on the docket was an update to the EC3 (embodied carbon in construction calculator) tool. Sowell said that the tool, features two major functions: to find and compare materials and plan and compare buildings. According to Sowell, the EC3 is useful in the procurement stage of building construction. It helps users choose products with the lowest carbon and can specifically search for products to fit the intended criteria.

An afternoon Fabricating Committee brought the event to a close and featured an update to the ICC ad hoc Building Safety and Security report. The report provide tools for assistance in guiding the design of buildings (including schools) and helping building managers, school districts and local and state leaders keep occupants safe from intruders and other life-safety hazards.

The report recommends that local jurisdictions require building safety and security analysis during the planning and designing phase. It also recommends retroactively reviewing existing high-occupancy buildings for potential risks. The report will be issued in August, said Thom Zaremba, Roetzel and Andress.

A task group to create a school security AIA presentation that will study the types and applications of security glazing used in schools will be formed. The presentation will review threats posed to school buildings including enhanced ballistic protection and forced entry. The committee will also form a new bird-friendly AIA presentation task group and a cleaning security glazing task group.

The laminating section of the agenda focused on the Emergency Egress Through Laminated Glazing Materials Glass Technical Paper (GTP), which is still in progress, the Use of Laminated Glass in Glass Railing Systems GTP, which has a multitude of comments that need to be addressed, and an update to the table of contents of the Laminated Glass Reference Manual.

Discussions about decorative glass wrapped up the event. The group has several task group activities, including updating the Decorative Glazing Manual and working on the new Benefits of Decorative Glass in Daylighting Applications GTP, which talks about how light bounces and reaches into buildings.

Source: usgnnAuthor: shangyi

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