Tempered window requirement in Canada

[woodman1967]

Not sure which forum this should be in (maybe someone here could direct me if there is a better forum) but here goes anyway.

In the USA any window within 18" of the floor is required to be tempered.

Is there a similar requirement in Canada?

I've looked at the Canadian National Building Code (2010) and in section 9.6.1.4 it seems to state that anything glass panel over 500mm wide that could be mistaken for a door needs to be tempered. But, if it is above the floor there seems to be no specification for it. If the window/sidelight is off the floor by about 250mm does the width still need to be 500mm or less?

 

[Shotzie]

Take a look at NBCC 2010 3.3.1.19.(6) which states:

A window in a public area that extends to less than 1 000 mm above the floor
and is located above the second storey in a building of residential occupancy, shall be
protected by a barrier or railing to not less than 1 070 mm above the floor, or the
window shall be non-openable and designed to withstand the lateral design loads for
balcony guards required by Article 4.1.5.14.

If you're window is low enough then it sounds like you'd need to design it as a guard, which would have its own requirements, some of which may require it to be laminated, tempered, or wired. I don't have the glass standard that's referenced in the NBCC 2010 code handy but if you can find that it'll go more in depth as to using glass as guards.

Edit: Actually I was able to find the glass standard CAN/CGSB-12.20-M89 "Structural Design of Glass for Buildings" which has been withdrawn. As far as I can tell there hasn't been a new standard released in its place. See attached for the document.

 

[Shotzie]

Having trouble getting the attachment to edit into my first post so I'll post it here.