Glassing (or bottling in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
) is a physical attack using a
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...
or
bottle
A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...
as a weapon. Glassings can occur at bars or pubs where alcohol is served and such items are readily available. The most common method of glassing involves the attacker smashing an intact glass vessel in the face of the victim, though it can also be smashed onto a surface, then gripped by the remaining base of the glass or neck of the bottle with the broken shards protruding outwards.
Common injuries resulting from glassings are heavy blood loss, permanent scarring, disfigurement and loss of sight through ocular injury. In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, there are over 5,000 injuries per year. Glassing is a relatively small portion of all alcohol-related violence, constituting 9% of injuries from alcohol-related violence in New South Wales, from 1999 to 2011, for instance.
[Alcohol-related violence: Is “glassing” the big issue?](_blank)
October 15, 2013
A step to prevent glassing before it happens is to produce bottles utilizing
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
instead, which cannot shatter into jagged pieces, and has the advantage of being closed using a
screw cap A screw cap or closure is a common type of closure for bottles, jars, and tubes.
Usage
A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a container. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engi ...
to retain a drink's
carbonation
Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids.
In inorganic ch ...
. But in practice, the use of plastic is thought of as making an alcoholic drink look "downmarket", as many discount brands of liquor use plastic rather than glass and the liquor industry has not switched higher-end brands to plastic, and the latter is thought of as a higher-end container.
A filled plastic bottle can also be used as a
blunt instrument
A blunt instrument is any solid object used as a weapon, which damages its target by applying direct mechanical force, and has no penetrating point or edge, or is wielded so that the point or edge is not the part of the weapon that inflicts the i ...
which causes just as much danger and injury as a glassing. This was seen in a
riotous incident which took place during a
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
game in
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
in 2001 where plastic beer bottles thrown by angry fans became blunt missiles, and which was known as the "
Bottlegate
Bottlegate, also referred to as The Beer Bottle Game, was an officiating controversy in an American football game in the 2001 season of the National Football League between the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns.
The incitin ...
" game. The incident effectively ended any further serious marketing of mass-market beer in plastic bottles.
Alcoholic drinks can be served in
tempered glass
Tempered or toughened glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the interior into tension. ...
es instead of traditional glassware, which results in a broken glass breaking into safer chunks unable to be weaponized, but is more costly to purchase for bars and pubs.
Tempered glass as policy response
Australia
At least three states in Australia are addressing glassing incidents by introducing regulations for liquor-licensed venues:
*
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
introduced many restrictions in 2008, including the removal of glass after midnight for high-risk venues. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of glassings.
* In 2011, the
government of Western Australia
The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...
made recommendations to the state hospitality industry on the use of tempered glass in hotels in response to glassing violence.
The state government and the
Australian Hotels Association
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) is a federation of not-for-profit employer associations in the hotel and hospitality industry, registered under the Fair Work Act and respective State Laws. The AHA's role is to further and protect the inte ...
created a self-regulatory program on the rollout of tempered glass in pubs, with most hotels and bars expected to change over to tempered beer glasses in six to 12 months.
Royal Perth Hospital's head of plastic surgery Mark Duncan-Smith described it as an important step in protecting the public.
* In
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, in response to continuing glassing incidents despite limited glass bans, state Liquor Licensing Minister Paul Lucas predicted in 2011 that almost all Queensland pubs and clubs would be (standard) glass-free in 10 years.
United Kingdom
In 2000, following a series of glassing attacks in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England.
, Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...
and the
Manchester Evening News
The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...
launched a campaign ''Safe Glass Safe City'' promoting the use of
toughened glass
Tempered or toughened glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the interior into tension. ...
in pubs and clubs to prevent such attacks.
References
Further reading
*
*
* {{cite news, work=Edinburgh Evening News, title=Bars face glass ban in violence crackdown, author=Brian Ferguson, date=2006-01-03, publisher=The Scotsman, url=http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Bars-face-glass-ban-in.2739133.jp
Violence
Glass applications
Improvised weapons