decolav glass shower and bathtub doors

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. Hurt, care not known

   Made Sep 8, 2017 · , sent to the company Sep 18, 2017 · , published by CPSC Oct 2, 2017

   The product, in the report: tempered glass door for shower - two sliding doors --- one broke

   I was taking a shower and the tempered safety glass (decolav tempered safety glass - 16cfr - 120 - 11 - ANSI) shattered on top of me causing a 4 stitches in my fingers and lacerations all over my body. I do think this was made worsened by poor installation by my landlord as the frame for the glass was never sturdy.

   Model

   16cfr 1201 11ansi z97 1-2009

   Serial number

   SGCC-4876

   Bought from

   renter- landlord purchased

   Bought

   Feb 8, 2016, about then

   Where

   Astoria, New York: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 37, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   Brand decolav, made or sold by Deco Lav, Inc.

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, Level of care not known

2. Emergency room

   Made Dec 14, 2016 · , sent to the company Dec 22, 2016 · , published by CPSC Jan 9, 2017

   The product, in the report: Double sliding glass door. Glass etching: DECOLAV TEMPERED SAFETY GLASS 16CFR 1201 II ANSI Z98.1-2009 SGCC-3960 1/4 U A 1212 single door dimensions: Length: 29.5 inches width: 1/4 inch height: 69 inches full shower frame dimensions: Length: 56.5 inches Width: 2 1/4 inches Height: 6 feet Decolav website does not list any shower enclosures, but their name is on our shower door. Shower doors were /purchased/installed 2-3 years ago by previous owner.

   On July 25, 2016, my husband and I purchased our first home. We officially moved into the home on August 1, 2016. Our master bathroom was newly remodeled about 2-3 years before our purchase. In our property inspection report, our master shower door was noted: “labeled as safety glass and operated smoothly and latched when closed.” The glass door etching on the master shower door reads:

   DECOLAV TEMPERED SAFETY GLASS 16CFR 1201 II ANSI Z98.1-2009 SGCC-3960 1/4 U A 1212

   We researched Devcolav, and apparently they do not sell a single shower door on their website. We wonder why they no longer sell them. We used our shower daily and treated it with care, as would any new home owner who just invested their life savings into their home would. On November 30, 2016, around 9:00 PM, my husband, was taking a shower, with the bathroom door wide open. Our daughter, who is 2 years old and about 26 pounds, came into the bathroom to say hello to her Dad. According to my husband, our daughter rested her left hand on the inner glass shower door and waved with her other hand and said “Hi daddy!” and the next second, the glass came shattering down on her, and she fell into the shower onto the pile of glass. My husband quickly picked her up. As soon as I heard the loud crash, I ran into the bathroom to retrieve my daughter and began to treat her wounds in our other bathroom. My husband had multiple scratches on his body, one cut on his right toe, and one cut on his right-hand finger. My daughter was bleeding from multiple areas. Her right wrist had one vertical laceration, streaming with blood, and one laceration on her left palm, also streaming with blood. She had one large cut on top of her head. Her hair was covered with tiny sharp shards of glass, which also found its way into her clothes, down her back, and into her diaper. Her head, face, and body was covered with multiple scratches from the incident. She was admitted to the ER and had to take multiple x-rays to see if any shards of glass entered her wounds, and her left palm needed four stitches. This ER visit left her traumatized of machinery, hospitals, and doctors. It took over 5 hours to clean up all the glass, which we still sometimes find little shards embedded into our carpet, and we have yet had the time to clean up all the blood stains in our carpet. We are left with a mess, a large medical bill, and we are left in fear of glass shower enclosures, to the point that we plan on removing all shower doors in our home. We believe that there was a manufacturer problem in the glass, perhaps during the tempering process. From our research,

   “The problem occurs with tempered glass, which manufacturers use because of its safety value. However, [REDACTED], a window expert, says that pre-existing damage and imperfections are both factors in the doors’ spontaneous shattering. “The number one reason glass doors break is because of some form of damage to the glass around the edges of that door,” [REDACTED] said. “The number two reason would be through inclusions, microscopic imperfections that grow into a larger crack internally to the pressure layers. Those pressure layers eventually cause the glass to just shatter.”

   We do not believe that our daughter was capable of such a mess. Because our door passed the property inspection, and because we treated it with care, including weekly cleaning, we never saw any damage on our glass, therefore the spontaneous shattering must have been due to inclusions. We also believe that tempered glass is NOT considered a “Safety Glass”. Granted it is “safer” than it breaking into larger shards, but it is still NOT safe, especially around small children. This label is very misleading for consumers. We demand that all glass shower manufacturers should be required to notify their consumers of this possible danger so that consumers can take proper precautions. It should also be a requirement to be notified of this possible danger when purchasing or becoming a tenant of any property with glass shower enclosures.

   Model

   i don’t know

   UPC

   i don’t know

   Serial number

   i don’t know

   Bought from

   Lowes

   Bought

   Dec 1, 2013, about then

   Where

   San Jose, California: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 2, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   My Child

   As this report names them

   Brand Decolav (Not sure if that’s the brand), made or sold by Deco Lav, Inc.

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources