When you think of all the govern-mental anti-terrorist measures occasioned by the 9/11 attacks, the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma, the student shootings at Columbine and other schools, the spate of hurricanes and tornadoes, as well as the perennial concern and regulatory actions regarding fire protection, you might feel that there is a movement to strengthen the most vulnerable aspects of a school, windows and doors. You might also have an uneasy sense that you're not doing all you should in this regard.

In actuality, however, the situation is not as dire as the first paragraph might indicate. There is some movement to strengthen windows and doors to meet some kinds of disasters, but certainly not all. Why? The short answer is that bringing school windows and doors to the same standard of safety as, say, U.S. embassies in the Middle East is not practical, and in the case of many disasters, would not do that much good anyway. Let's take a look at what's going on with school windows and doors in relation to the specific types of disaster possibilities that are currently on everybody's mind.

One area in which there has been a real change, says Howell Cornell, director of Security Products for TRACO in Cranberry Township, Pa., is hurricanes. Cornell makes the distinction between the impact and blast protection markets. Hurricanes belong to the impact category, and windows have been improved to meet this form of disaster.

“This all originated after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in Miami,” Cornell explains.“One of the main threats from hurricanes comes from flying glass, so after Andrew, Miami Dade County began to develop building codes regarding better glass, and many manufacturers began to develop a more protective glass.”

One type is polycarbon glass, which offers protection, but can be scratched or marred. The better option, Cornell says, is laminated glass. This is not a new technology and has been previously used in security applications, such as bullet proof glass in banks. But through the years, it's been built into the codes all across Florida, particularly the costal areas, and all the Gulf and Atlantic states are either thinking about or have put in code enforcements along these lines. Cornell says this type of code will soon become a part of the International Building Code, so most code bodies will adopt it.

Cornell points out that while laminated glass is more expensive than the conventional kind, it also has other advantages which should encourage school officials to use it whenever an opportunity to replace windows comes up. Laminated glass is an energy saver, he says. It cuts back power consumption and reduces sound transmission.“Sometimes we get into historical preservation, and owners are reluctant to replace leaky windows,” he says. “But the technology is such that the look of the original glass can be replicated with laminated glass in most markets.”

If there is a clear indication that laminated glass is or will be a requirement in schools in coastal areas subject to hurricanes, that mandate tends to evaporate in other areas. For instance, what about tornadoes? “I'm not sure that any type of glass in the path of a tornado will make much difference,” Cornell says. “The velocity of a tornado is much greater than a hurricane, up to 250 to 300 miles an hour, and will pulverize anything in its path. Some of our competitors are offering a storm glass for tornadoes, but I'm not sure whether that's a right or wrong thing to do.”

Moving from impact to blast resistance, the amount that windows can or should be expected to do is problematic. Cornell explains that the Department of Defense, General Services Administration and State Department are developing criteria for three ascending orders of glass toughness. There are two technical considerations: the first is the strength of the blast, and the second is its duration.

“We began seeing if there was a market for blast-resistant glass after 9/11, but the nongovernment sector has not taken this threat seriously,” Cornell acknowledges. He says there are about a dozen or so blast experts who do assessments. They look at five factors — how large the threat, proper window specifications, review of building wall conditions and repairs necessary, anchor systems to tie the windows to the wall systems and the quality of installations.

Cornell believes that blast protection will provide insurance and points out that in the Oklahoma City bombing, day care windows were blown out 3/4 a mile away. But he acknowledges that the schools that are in terrorist target urban areas would have the most cause for concern, which would not extend to many other areas. And, as his five factors imply, the toughest glass in the world won't help unless the building surrounding it is also as secure as a fortress. And how practical is this for schools?

Benchmark HMF Commercial Door Systems, located in Fredericksburg, Va., as its name implies, manufacturers doors. And Matt Givens, sales and marketing manager, says, “My strictly personal opinion is that doors will do very little to protect against a blast if the building is made of brick, wood and sheetrock. The entire building has to be built to be blast resistant. Only then will the doors be a critical component. I think there's a general fear out there, but I've not seen anything like the blast-resistant remodeling of the Pentagon going on in schools.”

Givens says that his doors are more fire-rating driven. He explains that doors are rated by numbers of swings, 250,000, 500,000 and one million. A classroom door would more typically be rated at 250,000 cycles, whereas an entry door at one million. According to the International Building Code, the type of material is not stipulated, only the level of fire protection. Typically, this has meant that the million-cycle doors would have to be made of steel.

But, says Givens, “We use a new fiberglass door that carries a rating as strong as steel, but has a more decorative appeal. It can be stained to look like wood.” It turns out, Givens adds, that his company's doors, though they had to go through “a barrage of testing” to meet the new regulatory demands for hurricanes, were already sturdy enough to meet that criteria.

“We manufacture steel acoustical, bullet-resistant and blast-resistant doors,” says Paul Green, marketing vice president of Krieger Specialty Products in Pico Rivera, Calif., “and we don't see these in schools, except the acoustical type in music facilities.” But Green mentions that even these sturdy doors for acoustical purposes have to be installed during the original construction. “It may be difficult to retrofit one of these in the existing opening,” he says. “The higher-rated and higher-cost door won't fit into the original jamb, so you have to tear the whole thing out and start all over.”

Green says his blast-resistant doors are made for places such as chemical plants where there is danger of large explosions. “I haven't seen any call for terrorist protection type of doors,” Green says. “That would be quite an undertaking, retrofitting an entire school, even in a central city neighborhood.”

He was asked whether the Columbine shooting has initiated any call for bullet-proof doors in schools. “Columbine has not had any impact at all,” Green says. “That's like putting the door up after the horse is out of the barn. Certain situations are not that repeatable. It's important to work toward good security, but you can't protect against everything.”