Oct 15 2008
In an effort to educate security professionals in and around New York City on glass retention and window protection films, Jordan Frankel, vice president of ShatterGARD, Inc. and a world-renowned glass protection expert, was asked to speak at a special Times Square Security Association Meeting.
Just 10-15 years ago, businesses around Times Square, worried more about drug dealers, prostitutes and common thieves than terrorism. However, the cleanup of the area and the events of September 11th changed their concerns and priorities. With flying glass from the World Trade Center and surrounding buildings being a major contributing factor of injuries and fatalities on September 11th, most large corporations have reassessed their current security measures with a renewed look at their buildings windows.
Almost immediately after the terrorist attacks, numerous NYC facility managers contacted ShatterGARD for a professional risk assessment of their buildings. They were concerned about an act of terrorism where the lives of workers and the hundreds of thousands of Times Square visitors would be in danger of the flying glass, not to mention the property," explained Frankel. The assessment led to ShatterGARDs flagship product, BlastGARD, being applied to the interior glass surface of some of the most high profile buildings in and around New Your City
The Times Square Security Association Meeting which included representatives from Morgan Stanley, Fox News, the New York City police department, Bear Stearns and future client American Stock Exchange.
At the meeting, Frankel explained that BlastGARD was originally developed for the U.S. military as a defense against bomb blasts, explosions and flying glass. Applied directly to a glass surface, BlastGARD works like an invisible coat of armor, strengthening the "weakest security link" - the glass," he said. In the event of a major explosion, BlastGARD helps hold the razor sharp glass fragments together, preventing flying shards of glass from becoming deadly weapons."
Frankel also told the security professionals that window protection film is a viable and affordable alternative to ballistic glass and stressed that there is no need to replace existing windows. According to Frankel, The film is virtually undetectable to the human eye and will not alter the appearance of the windows in anyway."
BlastGARD is a perfect solution," Frankel told them. You can have the film installed during normal business hours. There is no smell, no toxic fumes and no disruption to your employees and visitors."
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a demonstration is probably worth even more. The proof came during the meeting when an NYPD officer repeatedly struck a ShatterGARD treated window and the glass simply would not break. They all became believers," said Frankel, looking around the room at the amazed expressions of attendees."
After the meeting, most of the security professionals vowed to bring the BlastGARD window film solution to the attention of their companies and organizations.