Safety Glasses. I’ll drink to that.

I am taking a time out from my energy coverage on this blog to draw your attention to a crisis in my homeland … and a proposed solution.

Little did I realize, during all those years of quaffing pints in the pubs of Southern England, that my life was at risk. I read some shocking news a few weeks ago and I am still trying to come to terms with the statistics.  According to the Home Office, as reported by the BBC earlier this month, almost 87,000 injuries a year in the UK are caused by glass attacks. Yes, that’s right. Glass attacks.

It’s not some Sci-Fi movie “When Glass Attacks” featuring an alien transformation of glass windows into a malevolent force of evil. No, this evil is far more human, and combines drunkenness, aggression, and the pint glass. Evidently some of my countrymen, in their cups (or glasses in this case), fall prey to anger and extreme violence, and use the harmless vessel (that was only a few minutes earlier holding the happy amber nectar) as a weapon to inflict grievous bodily harm on a fellow tippler. The 87,000 glass-related injuries a year adds up to an annual bill for the National Health Service of $4.3 billion.

The immediate problem (sorry, I won’t get into the deeper issue of why some Brits get drunk and become violent): Pint glasses shatter and produce sharp shards. The shards remain attached to the solid glass base, and the ex-glass is then used as a crude knife to slash, maim, and potentially kill another bar patron.

The immediate solution: pint glasses that don’t shatter. The Design Council has come up with two prototypes: 1) the Glass Plus, which uses a plastic coating  or a bioresin on the inside of the glass in order to prevent the glass breaking into smaller, jagged pieces; and 2) the Twin Wall, one thin-walled glass bonded by resin to a slightly larger one, to achieve the same effect.

Pilot testing of the shatterproof prototypes is scheduled over the next twelve months.  Although these alternatives sound like a good idea, old-school drinkers will likely cling to the familiar pint glass for as long as they can.  Pubs, already struggling from a down economy and the drop-off in patrons in the wake of the non-smoking laws, are likely to balk at the extra costs involved in replenishing the vast quantities of glasses in stock in drinking places across the land.

Now to put this all in perspective, it is estimated that every week in pubs across  the UK some 126 million pints of beer are pulled, most without incident.  Also, I generally agree with the wisdom of  Ben Franklin who, as urban legend would have it, was said to have said that  ”Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

But still, 87,000 glass-related injuries a year! Blimey!

I need a drink.

Cheers.

~

Photo by Owen Blacker, used under a Creative Commons license.