Glass Management

Important tips for removing windshields & other vehicle glass

Believe it or not, back in the day, if you needed to remove a windshield, you simply used hay bale hooks or cut the rubber gasket to remove the entire thing. This is obviously not the case nowadays.

The windshield has been a structural component of the vehicle for at least the last 20 years. As Paul Rice, director of PPG PROSTARS, once explained: “The windshield is a critical component of your car's safety system in an accident. It reduces the likelihood of people being ejected from the car in a collision, and helps support the roof from a complete crush if the car rolls over. The windshield is necessary for proper deflection of the passenger-side airbag, as it deploys in the event of an accident.”

Windshield Refresher
Windshield glass is laminated glass. It consists of two layers of special composite glass with a laminate between the layers.

The laminate is usually made from a form of vinyl plastic, which is, in simple terms, a very strong plastic. The laminate acts as a sticking board, holding together the inner and outer layer of glass, and provides a surface to which glass fragments can adhere in case the windshield shatters. The windshield is secured in place with very strong glue, called urethane. This adhesive bonds the window frame to the glass. This entire process is covered by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.

Safety Glass
Tempered glass is also known as safety glass because it breaks into small pieces when impacted. I think this description is misleading. Those little pieces fly everywhere. Have you noticed that when you break safety glass during training, it always ends up somewhere it doesn’t belong—like in your boot or down your shirt?

Tempered glass is usually found in the side and rear windows. Why would we remove this tempered glass? Lots of reasons. First, if a child or animal is in a locked vehicle without the air conditioning or a heater to control the vehicle’s temperature, you need to remove the glass. (To learn more about unattended children in cars, check out the Web site www.4rkidssake.org.)

The quickest method to remove tempered glass: Use a center punch to a rear window; once the window has shattered, you can control the glass and open the door.

Another reason to remove the side glass is to control the glass when performing extrication. If a door is being spread and the window is up, the glass will likely break in an uncontrolled manner. The ensuing shower of “safety glass” will probably not harm the rescuers, as they should be wearing PPE; however, the victim and unprotected rescuers are not safe from the flying glass.

Glass Removal
The most common reason for windshield removal is to aid in roof removal. The windshield is a structural component of the vehicle and, with the exception of folding the roof from the top of the A-post, you’ll have to cut the windshield.

So how do we safely remove a windshield? There are a couple of preferred methods. Manually: I prefer the Glas-Master tool. It takes a little bit of muscle, but with training you can perfect your technique to get the job done with minimal time and exertion. Power tool: When using a reciprocating saw, such as a Sawzall, the key is to use a very short, aggressive blade. A wood-cutting blade is appropriate, preferably one with 6 teeth per square inch.

Regardless of the method, when cutting a windshield, all rescuers and victims must wear respiratory protection so they don’t breathe in the pulverized glass particles. There’s no research on the hazards posed by such particles, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that it is a hazard. Also, once the windshield has been cut, place it under the vehicle so it isn’t a trip hazard.

Other Tips
Rear-window glass on SUVs has one hazard the other windows don’t: lifters or pistons. The glass is in a loaded state by design; therefore, use caution when breaking this glass. Why? The piston or lifter is compressed when the window is closed, so when you open the window on a lift gate, the window stays up.

Don’t forget to announce to everyone around you that you’re “breaking glass”; it alerts the crew and the victims. You’ll often find that at least one person in the vicinity is not protected.

Finally, don’t be surprised if all the glass in newer luxury vehicles is laminated; this is for safety and security so thieves can’t do the “smash-and-grab” routine. We simply need to identify the glass and use the appropriate method of removal.

Brad Havrilla is a 19-year veteran with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, where he is currently assigned to the training division. Havrilla is an international extrication judge and the past vice-chairman of the Transportation Emergency Rescue Committee. He was the recipient of the Harvey Grant Excellence in Rescue Award in 2004.