The Home Office has announced the launch of two prototype pint glasses that will not shatter into dangerous shards of glass if it dropped or used as an attack weapon.

Speaking at the launch at the Design Council in London on Thursday (04/02/10), Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that there were around 87,000 violent attacks using glasses as weapons in the UK each year.

The glasses have been developed by the Design Council in collaboration with the Home Office and Technology Alliance Against Crime, under the Design Out Crime programme.

Technology Alliance Against Crime is a group of respected experts from the worlds of design, industry and law enforcement, who develop solutions to a range of crime-related problems –

including those which affect young people – and covering bullying in schools, Neighbourhood Watch projects, mobile phone theft and business crime.

The two glasses use revolutionary technoloqy in the construction of glass and will now undergo a range of intensive tests before being trialled in pubs and bars.

The designs are the first major advance in glassware for pubs since the 1960s.

Glass Plus looks like a regular pint glass, but has a thin transparent coating of bio-resin on the inside to make it stronger and bind dangerous shards if the glass is broken

Twin Wall consists of two ultra-thin layers of glass bonded together in a similar manner to laminated car windscreens. It makes the pint glass extremely difficult to break – but in the event that it does break, dangerous shards of glass would be safely held together by a layer of resin.

Although alcohol-related violence has fallen by 33 per cent since 1997, there is still a huge impact on victims, their families and communities, with the cost to the NHS being an estimated £2.7 billion annually.

In total, alcohol-related violence is estimated to cost the UK £8bn-£13bn every year.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Johnson said:

‘Glassing causes horrific injuries and has a lasting and devastating impact on victims and their families. I hope these designs will help bring an end to such attacks.

‘While this is never going to be the only answer to preventing such violence, it is an important step forward which could also provide retailers and drinkers with a preferable alternative to plastic glasses. 

‘Tackling crime is not just about police action – innovation and design also have a

huge impact, ‘ Mr Johnson added.

’Technologies like car immobilisers have helped cut vehicle crime by 57 per cent since 1997.

‘I wish the Design and Technology Alliance and all our partners every success during

the testing – and look forward to seeing the results.’

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