On Jan. 19, 2020, Stephanie Chu was having steamboat with her friends.
This was the table they were having it on.
According to Chu, her dining table "exploded" and the entire tempered glass top shattered into pieces some 30 minutes into their dinner.
Here's the aftermath of the incident.
Chu was apparently taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital to treat her second degree burns, while her friends were also injured.
Chu also posted pictures of what appears to be her, or her injured friends.
She also listed out the damages she suffered.
Damage occurred:
1. New kitchenware
2. Lots of injury (blood spilt everywhere)
3. A&E medical attention + follow up appointments
4. Blood stain on wall and sofa
5. Blood seeping into grout (have to dig out and reapply grout as there is no way we can clean it)
6. Food
Chu revealed that she had contacted the furniture company for compensation.
While the company has apparently offered her a "brand new laminated table top", Chu felt that they could have shown some "responsibility" and covered their medical bills and repair costs.
Chu remains worried about the general safety of the table in the future even if it had just been replaced.
She also wondered what might have happened if the incident had taken place on Chinese New Year with younger children and elderly around the table.
Tempered glass shattering
Chu's post also contained this disclaimer:
"I understand that there is a potential possibility of thermal stress that may occur on a tempered glass even though it is supposed to be tough, with 15mm of thickness. With no right or wrong answer to how much heat and duration will cause a tempered glass from shattering, we were unfortunate enough to experience this traumatic experience."
The tempered glass shattering phenomena is well documented.
Here's a Straits Times article documenting the many instances of tempered glass shattering.
According to the February 2017 article, the Consumers Association of Singapore had received nine complaints since 2014.
Here is an expert explaining why this happens.
The shattering is seen in tempered glass, which is a type of glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass -- although instances of shattering are really rare.
This means that if the glass breaks, it will crumble into small granular chunks, instead of jagged shards that could more easily cause serious injuries.
You can read her full post here.
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