Emergency Glazing for Commercial Sites: What to Expect

Emergency glazing starts with making the building safe, secure and weathertight, usually within hours. Replacing the glass comes later, once the right unit has been made. GLRE provides emergency make safe and reactive glazing across the UK.

When do you need emergency glazing?

• Broken or cracked glass presenting a falling or cutting risk to people below.
• Any failure that leaves the building open to the weather.
• A shopfront, entrance or ground-floor pane that leaves the premises insecure overnight. See shopfront glass and glazing replacement.
• Overhead or atrium glass that has cracked above an occupied space. See atrium glazing repair.
• A glazed door or screen that has failed and blocks an escape route. See glazed doors and entrances.
• Impact, vehicle strike, storm damage or vandalism affecting the building envelope.

Anything that is stable, secure and weathertight is not an emergency, and treating it as one costs more and slows the genuine calls.

What happens when you call?

1. The situation is triaged: what has failed, what is at risk, and whether anyone is in danger now.
2. The area is secured and cordoned, above and below.
3. Loose and damaged glass is removed or contained so nothing else can fall.
4. The opening is boarded, sealed or filmed so the building is secure and weathertight.
5. The permanent repair is surveyed and specified, and the glass is ordered.
6. The permanent repair is carried out and the temporary measures are removed.

Steps one to four are the make safe. Step five is where most of the calendar time goes, and it is driven by glass manufacture rather than by the contractor.

How quickly will someone attend?

It depends on where the building is, what time it is, whether a team is already deployed, and what the site needs to admit a crew out of hours. Any contractor publishing a single response time is describing a good day.

If a guaranteed response matters to your organisation, it belongs in a service level agreement, where the time is specified, priced, bounded by location and hours, and backed by an escalation route. That is what a reactive glazing agreement is for. See emergency and reactive glazing services.

What temporary measures are used?

Boarding

Timber or steel sheeting fixed over the opening. The most secure option and the least acceptable in a trading frontage, which is why it is usually the overnight answer rather than the week-long one.

Weatherproofing and sealing

Sheeting and sealing to keep water out where the opening cannot be boarded, for example on an overhead or high-level element.

Safety film

Where the glass is cracked but still in place and stable, high-performance film can hold it together and keep the building trading until the replacement arrives. It is the least disruptive option and the most often overlooked. See high-performance glazing film.

Netting and debris containment

Where glass is overhead and cannot be removed immediately, netting beneath contains anything that falls and allows the space below to stay in use. See safety netting.

How long will the temporary measure stay up?

Until the replacement glass arrives, which depends entirely on the specification. A standard clear unit in a common size is quick. Toughened, laminated, fire-rated, acoustic, coated or oversized glass is made to order and will take longer, sometimes considerably.

Ask for the glass lead time at the make safe visit rather than at the follow-up. It is the number that determines everything else. See commercial glass replacement process and commercial glass replacements.

How does an insurance claim work?

7. Photograph the damage before anything is moved, if it is safe to do so.
8. Notify the insurer as soon as the building is safe. Most policies require prompt notification.
9. Keep the make safe documentation. Insurers generally expect reasonable steps to prevent further loss.
10. Get the permanent repair quoted separately from the make safe, so the claim is clear.
11. Check the policy for the excess and for any out-of-hours conditions before agreeing the works.

GLRE cannot advise on the terms of a policy. What it can do is provide the documentation an insurer will ask for.

Is a make safe the same as a repair?

No, and this is the most common misunderstanding after an emergency call-out. A make safe stops the situation getting worse. It does not restore the building, it is not designed to last, and the permanent repair is a separate scope with its own survey, specification and price.

The process from the facilities manager's side is set out in emergency make safe for facilities managers, and overhead emergencies in atrium glazing repair guide.

What should be in place before you need emergency glazing?

• A reactive glazing agreement with agreed response times and rates.
• A named out-of-hours contact on both sides.
• Site access arrangements for out-of-hours attendance, agreed in advance.
• A record of the glass specifications in the building, so replacements can be ordered without a return visit.
• Anchor and access provision that is tested and current, so high-level work is not delayed.

All work at height is planned and supervised under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and replacement glass in critical locations must meet the impact requirements in Approved Document K.

Want an agreed response rather than a search at midnight? Book a reactive glazing agreement.

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