A tempered panel fails. Sometimes there is an impact. Sometimes there is nothing — a nickel sulfide inclusion that has been sitting in the glass since the day it was made finally lets go on a hot afternoon. Either way, you now have an opening in the building envelope and glass on the ground.
The replacement pane is weeks away. Everything that matters happens before it arrives.
Hour one: the ground, not the glass
The first decision is not about the window. It is about what is underneath it.
Falling glass does not drop straight down from twenty floors. It travels. The exclusion zone is wider than most people's instinct, and it needs to account for wind. Before anything else:
- Close the sidewalk, entrance, pool deck or parking below — wider than you think.
- Get someone physically stationed there. Cones move; people do not.
- Photograph everything before it is touched. Your insurer will ask.
Nobody goes up until the ground is controlled.
Hour two: what is still up there
The pane that broke is rarely the whole problem. What stays in the frame is.
Tempered glass that has failed usually holds together in the frame for a while, then releases in sheets as it flexes with the wind. The remaining glass is the live hazard, and it is on a timer that nobody can read.
This is where access method decides your day. A lift needs a permit, a street closure and a clear setback — on a beachfront tower or a tight downtown lot you may simply not have those. A swing stage is not a same-day option.
Rope access reaches the panel from anchors already on the roof. That is the difference between securing the opening tonight and securing it next week.
Hour three: clear and close
Two things happen at the panel:
Clear the remaining glass. Controlled removal into containment, not knocked out to fall. Every fragment that leaves the frame on purpose is one that does not leave it by surprise at 2 a.m.
Close the opening. Plywood board-up, cut and fitted to the frame, fixed and sealed. It is not pretty and it is not permanent. It is the thing that stops the next four weeks from becoming a much larger claim.
An open envelope on a high-rise is not just a hole. It changes how wind moves through the floor, it lets water in during the next storm, and it leaves a unit — or a whole floor — unusable.
Hour four: the paperwork that pays for itself
While the crew is still on site:
- Photograph the frame and the failure. Insurers and glass manufacturers both want to see the break pattern and the frame condition.
- Record the exact unit dimensions and glazing spec. Getting this wrong costs weeks on a custom-fabricated unit, not days.
- Note the adjacent panels. If one failed from an inclusion, the others from the same batch are worth inspecting.
The question boards ask afterwards
Could we have seen this coming?
Sometimes. Spontaneous tempered failures generally cannot be predicted. But impact damage, failed gaskets, corroded fixings and frames that have shifted are all visible during a routine façade assessment — and all of them can turn into a failed panel.
The buildings that get surprised least are the ones that have someone on the wall regularly.
What to have ready when you call
Say these four things and the crew arrives prepared:
- The floor and elevation.
- Whether glass has already fallen, and what is below.
- Whether roof anchors exist.
- Whether the unit is occupied.
Frequently asked
What do we do first when a glass panel breaks?
Control the ground before anyone looks at the window. Close the sidewalk, entrance, pool deck or parking below with a wider exclusion zone than instinct suggests, station a person there, and photograph everything before it is touched. Falling glass travels with the wind; it does not drop straight down.
Is the remaining glass in the frame dangerous?
Yes, and it is the live hazard. Tempered glass that has failed often holds in the frame and then releases in sheets as it flexes with the wind. It should be cleared under control into containment rather than left to come out on its own.
Can you board up the same night?
Rope access reaches the panel from anchors already on the roof, so there is no permit wait and no street closure to arrange. That is usually the difference between closing the opening the same night and waiting for a lift or swing stage.
Why board up at all if the replacement pane is coming?
An open envelope on a high-rise changes how wind moves through the floor, lets water in during the next storm, and can leave a unit or a whole floor unusable. The board-up is what stops the weeks before the replacement from becoming a much larger claim.
Skyhanger II Corp responds to high-rise emergencies across South Florida, 24 hours a day. Glass clearing, emergency board-ups, storm damage and safety stabilization — on rope, without waiting for a crane permit. [TO CONFIRM: committed response time from the call to crew on site]
(954) 609-7870 · General@skyhanger2.com