At noon on May 18th, 2011, a glass curtain wall of Times Financial Center Building in Pudong, Shanghai suddenly fell from the 46th floor, damaging many cars in the parking lot of Lujiazui Ring Road on the north side to varying degrees.

　　On the evening of June 17, a piece of glass fell from the glass curtain wall of Changhong Century City in Mianyang, Sichuan, killing the owner of the community who was walking below (Chengdu Business Daily reported continuously).

　　This extreme incident has also aroused the concern of citizens and netizens about the safety of glass curtain walls and related responsibilities.

　　A reporter from Chengdu Business Daily visited and investigated in the past week and found that glass curtain walls are common in the whole country, but there are many hidden dangers.

　　There is also a hidden responsibility problem behind the hidden danger — — According to the relevant management measures issued by the state before, the main body of the safety maintenance of the glass curtain wall after the warranty period is the owner himself.

　　Chengdu Business Daily reporter Tang Xiaojun

　　Who is responsible for the safety of glass curtain wall?

　　The main body of safety maintenance after the warranty period is the owner.

　　On June 24th, Chengdu Business Daily reporter once again came to Mianyang Changhong Century City Community to talk about the risks of glass curtain wall. No matter whether it was installed by himself or other owners, there was a kind of worry in his words. "It is very troublesome for glass to fall and hit others, or to be hit by glass." However, for the daily safety maintenance and responsibility of glass, the interviewed owners are at a loss.

　　"In fact, there have been regulations for a long time, but everyone didn’t pay much attention." In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Mianyang Engineering Quality Supervision Department introduced that in 2006, the then Ministry of Construction issued the "Administrative Measures for the Safety Maintenance of Curtain Walls of Existing Buildings", in which Article 8 is the determination of the responsible person for the safety maintenance of curtain walls of existing buildings: (1) If the building is owned by a single owner, the owner shall be the responsible person for the safety maintenance of its curtain walls; (2) If the building is jointly owned by multiple owners, each owner shall jointly determine a person responsible for safety maintenance to take the lead in the safety maintenance of the building curtain wall.

　　"That is to say, the owner is responsible for the safety maintenance of the glass curtain wall after the warranty period. After the two-year warranty period, the owner should carry out strict inspection and safety maintenance in time according to the requirements of relevant specifications. For example, in a residential community, the owner can entrust the property company to check and maintain on time. " The person in charge explained.

　　So, how should the maintainer carry out maintenance? The person in charge further introduced that according to the "Technical Specification for Glass Curtain Wall Engineering" issued by the Ministry of Construction in 2003, it is required to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the curtain wall project one year after the completion and acceptance of the curtain wall project, and then every five years. The inspection items include whether the curtain wall as a whole is deformed, dislocated, loose, etc. Whether the glass panel is loose or damaged; Whether the sealant is degummed, cracked and blistered, and whether the sealing strip is damaged by falling off and aging; Whether the opening part can be opened and closed flexibly, whether the hardware accessories have functional obstacles or damage, and whether the installation bolts are loose and ineffective; Whether the drainage system of curtain wall is unobstructed. After the curtain wall project is used for 10 years, the silicone sealants in different parts of the project should be sampled for bonding performance; It should be checked every three years thereafter.

　　"The Technical Specification for Glass Curtain Wall Engineering puts forward standards, which must be done during inspection and maintenance. The comprehensive inspection one year after the completion acceptance specified above is carried out by the construction unit and the construction unit, and will be carried out every five years thereafter, because after the warranty period, it should be the maintainer, that is, the owner or the safety responsible person entrusted by the owner. " The person in charge said.

　　The reporter learned that the Changhong Century City Community where the accident occurred was delivered around 2011. According to the previous regulations, the glass curtain wall has passed the warranty period. However, among the eight owners interviewed by the reporter, none of them knew that they were the main body of safety maintenance of the glass curtain wall after the warranty period, let alone the service life and how to maintain it.

　　"When buying a house, no one talked about the service life of the glass curtain wall, nor did they say how to maintain it." An owner of Changhong Century City said. Another owner surnamed Wu said that the glass curtain wall is a part of the whole building, and the developer should ensure the quality and safety. It cannot be said that the problem of glass is the owner’s problem. "Everyone spends the same money to buy a house. If the glass curtain wall is to be maintained by the owner himself, then we will suffer a big loss compared with other owners."

　　The glass curtain wall of the accident community is a hidden frame.

　　Glass curtain walls have fallen in many places.

　　In recent days, Chengdu Business Daily reporter visited 15 residential areas built in recent years in Mianyang City, and found that in residential areas such as "1958" and "Shuiyun Riverside", glass curtain walls were installed in buildings on the top 3 to 5 floors. Li Ning, general manager of Changhong Real Estate Mianyang Company, said that the glass curtain wall is divided into open frame, semi-hidden frame and hidden frame, and Changhong Century City Community uses hidden frame. The reporter learned on the spot that many of these communities using glass curtain walls use hidden frames.

　　Why choose the hidden box? The project manager of Changhong Century City Community said that the hidden frame is two pieces of glass directly evacuated and glued together, and the open frame is glass embedded in a frame structure, "the hidden frame is more beautiful." The project manager admitted that insulating glass can provide sound insulation, heat insulation, frost prevention, etc., but there are also potential safety hazards and disadvantages of light pollution. The reporter found that in recent years, glass curtain wall falling accidents have occurred both inside and outside the province, causing casualties and property losses such as cars.

　　Why install glass curtain wall? In the survey, many Mianyang real estate developers pointed to the Technical Regulations on Urban Planning and Management of Mianyang City, which requires that the roof should be decorated with aluminum profiles, glass, steel and other materials … … On June 23, a staff member of Mianyang Planning Bureau pointed out that the planning unit would not ask the developer to make a glass curtain wall, but would only stipulate what style should be used in a certain area.

　　In 2015, the country has a new regulation that some new residential high-rise buildings ban glass curtain walls.

　　In response to the frequent glass curtain wall accidents, the reporter found that the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Work Safety jointly issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Safety Protection of Glass Curtain Wall in 2015, clearly requiring that some new buildings on the second floor and above should not use glass curtain walls.

　　The Notice stipulates that glass curtain walls shall not be used on the second floor or above in new residential buildings, office buildings of party and government organs, emergency rooms and wards of hospitals, primary and secondary schools, nurseries, kindergartens and buildings for the elderly. Full-hidden frame glass curtain walls are strictly prohibited in crowded and mobile commercial centers, transportation hubs, public cultural and sports facilities and other places, near roads, squares and buildings with entrances and exits and personnel passages at the lower part. If glass curtain walls are installed on the second floor or above of the above buildings, buffer areas such as green belts or podium should be reasonably set in the surrounding area below the curtain walls, and protective measures such as overhangs and impact-proof awnings can also be adopted.

　　Why should the use of glass curtain walls be restricted? The "Notice" pointed out that in recent years, accidental incidents of damage and injury caused by self-explosion and falling off of curtain wall glass in individual cities have endangered people’s lives and property safety and aroused social concern. The reasons for these safety hazards are not only the technical defects and material defects in the early glass curtain wall project, but also the lack of attention to the safety protection work in specific environments and buildings such as dense personnel and high mobility. "The failure to implement the maintenance and management responsibility of glass curtain wall is also an important reason."

　　The "Notice" further clarifies that the owner is responsible for the safety maintenance of the glass curtain wall.

　　The design service life of glass curtain wall is 25 years.

　　Owners are worried about who will pay for the replacement after 25 years.

　　At the same time, the reporter further interviewed and found that according to the Unified Standard for Reliability Design of Building Structures (GB 50068-2001), the design service life of glass curtain wall is 25 years and the glue is 10 years. So, what about those tall buildings with glass curtain walls installed before, after 25 years of use? Change it or not? Who will change it?

　　In this regard, the Notice of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Work Safety also stipulates that after the glass curtain wall has reached its service life, the person in charge of safety maintenance shall entrust a unit with corresponding qualifications to conduct safety performance appraisal of the glass curtain wall, and if it needs to be modified, reinforced or dismantled, it shall entrust a unit with corresponding qualifications to be responsible for implementation.

　　So, who will pay for this? In the interview, both the owners and developers said that they didn’t know what to do, and many owners who lived in the residential area with glass curtain walls expressed concern.

　　China News Service, Beijing, June 10 (Jiang Li) A few days ago, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation exposed the use of Danish Internet facilities by the US National Security Agency to secretly monitor the leaders of European allies. This is another egregious surveillance incident since the former CIA employee Snowden exposed the US "Prism Gate" program in 2013.

　　The United States often uses "cyber security" as an excuse to suppress other countries. The exposure of the spying on European allies has once again torn off the hypocrisy of the Washington authorities, which is enough to prove that the US cyber security pursues outright hegemony and is based on trampling on the cyber security of other countries. The United States has gone its own way and constantly challenged the bottom line of the international community. It should give an explanation to the European countries and the international community that have been spied on.

　　At the same time, the spying scandal has exposed the United States’ distrust of European allies. The United States has always regarded Europe as a potential threat. The superpower wants not real allies, but to monitor Europe to assist its own interests. Such espionage is bound to cause cracks in the alliance between the United States and Europe.

　　This incident raises doubts about the extent of US infiltration into Europe, and the "black hand" of the United States must not only extend to Europe. As Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, the US spying on European leaders is only the "tip of the iceberg". Therefore, the international community cannot tolerate this matter to go unresolved. Only by clearly opposing and combating this kind of behavior can we safeguard international cyber security and safeguard the common interests of all countries. (End)