Where Safety Glass Is Required in Your Home: A Plain Guide to CPSC 16 CFR 1201 and ANSI Z97.1

March kicks off storm season in Northwest Arkansas, and storm season means glass repairs. It is also the moment many homeowners first hear a glazier say: that location requires safety glazing. So before the spring hail arrives, here is a plain-English tour of where the code requires safety glass in a home, what those certification stamps mean, and why you should never let anyone put ordinary annealed glass in these spots.

Two Standards You Will See Stamped on Glass

Look in the corner of a tempered pane and you will find a small permanent etch (the bug) citing one or both of these:

• CPSC 16 CFR 1201: The federal safety standard for glazing in hazardous locations like doors and tub enclosures. Category II is the higher impact rating used for larger panels.
• ANSI Z97.1: The industry safety glazing standard referenced by building codes for many other hazardous locations.

Both certify that the glass either resists a specified impact or breaks safely: tempered glass into small granular pieces, laminated glass cracking but staying stuck to its interlayer like a windshield.

The Hazardous Locations Checklist

Under the IRC, safety glazing is required in (among others):

• All glass in doors, including storm doors and sliding patio doors.
• Glass near doors: panes within 24 inches of a door edge and less than 60 inches above the floor.
• Tub and shower enclosures, and any glazing less than 60 inches above the drain in a wet location. Every frameless shower panel we install is tempered for this reason.
• Large low windows: panes bigger than 9 square feet with a bottom edge less than 18 inches above the floor and a top edge more than 36 inches up, along a walking surface.
• Glass near stairs, landings, and ramps within specified distances of the walking surface.
• Guards and railings: structural glass balustrades, where codes now generally push toward laminated glass so a broken panel stays in place.

Why This Comes Up During Repairs

Plenty of NWA housing stock predates modern enforcement, and we regularly find annealed glass sitting beside patio doors or in tall stairwell windows. There is no requirement to rip out old glass proactively, but the moment a pane is replaced, the replacement must meet current safety glazing rules. That is a feature, not a hassle: emergency rooms see thousands of severe lacerations every year from people falling into non-safety glass, and children near sliding doors are the classic case.

Tempered vs. Laminated: Which Goes Where

Tempered is the workhorse: strong, economical, and standard for showers, door lites, and most windows in hazardous locations. Laminated earns its keep where you want the glass to stay in the opening after breakage: railings, overhead glazing, storm-prone west exposures, and anywhere security or noise reduction is also a goal. Laminated glass in an IGU is also a legitimately useful hail strategy for skylights.

If storm repairs are on your list this spring, or you simply want to know whether the glass around your doors and stairs is what it should be, request a free estimate. We will identify every hazardous location in the house and quote exactly what belongs there.