Two new pint glasses introduced to reduce injuries in pubs

4th February 2010, 11:21am

Two new prototype pint glasses have been designed to reduce the injuries caused by almost 87,000 glass attacks every year in pubs.

The glasses have been produced under the Design Out Crime programme, an initiative from the Home Office‟s Design & Technology Alliance Against Crime and the Design Council.

The prototypes – world-firsts that feature new high-tech ways of using glass - will now undergo a range of intensive tests before they are ready to be piloted in pubs and bars.

The two designs are:

Glass Plus - looks just like a regular pint glass but has a thin transparent coating of bio-resin on the inside. This makes it stronger and if the glass is broken it binds together dangerous shards - drastically reducing the likelihood of injury to customers and staff. 

Twin Wall - a revolutionary design, made by bonding two ultra-thin layers of glass together in a concept similar to laminated car windscreens. It makes the pint glass extremely difficult to break, but in the event that it does smash, any dangerous shards would be safely held together by a layer of resin

Although alcohol related violence has fallen by 33% since 1997 there remain 87,000 violent incidents involving glass each year, which in addition to the impact on victims, their families and communities, cost the NHS an estimated £2.7 billion. In total alcohol related violence is estimated to cost the UK between £8 and £13 billion a year.

Home secretary Alan Johnson said: "Glassing causes horrific injuries and has a lasting and devastating impact on victims and their families, I hope these designs will help bring an end to such attacks. While this is never going to be the only answer to preventing such violence, it is an important step forward which could also provide retailers and drinkers with a preferable alternative to plastic glasses."

David Kester, chief executive of the Design Council and member of the Alliance, added: "There are many benefits here; these innovative new designs could help protect the public and reduce the burden of coping with glassing related injuries. In the current economic climate it is also good to see such a thorny problem turned into a global export opportunity for British business."

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