Spontaneous glass breakage prompts safety concerns

A tempered glass table exploded without warning, sending hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen and dining room.

An alarm of a different kind woke the Ruchkall family this morning, and this one was not set to go off.

"I thought something catastrophic had happened and I immediately thought, oh my gosh are the kids ok?" said Chantal Ruchkall.

It turns out the tempered glass table exploded without warning, sending hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen and dining room.

Luckily, Ruchkall said, no one was around when it happened Friday.

She says the family does all they can to take care of the table.

"We don't put hot stuff on there, other than a place mat that is thickly padded and a place for your food."

Ruchkall said the table was bought at Structube about a year and a half ago.

Concerned about safety, they called the Winnipeg store wanting a clean-up and a refund.

In an email response to Chantal’s husband David, company representatives wrote, “Unfortunately, we cannot send someone out to clean up your table for you. But a claim has been opened on your behalf and will take a few days to be reviewed.”

Dean Forester, owner of ACR Glass in Winnipeg, told CTV News the chances of this kind of breakage is one in a million, but says flaws in manufacturing has been known to cause tempered glass to shatter.

"It could have been cooled too quickly, heated too quickly or the whole manufacturing process was done wrong, or it just blew up. I've had it happen myself," Forester said.

Forester says all glass furniture has to be made of tempered glass because it’s designed to shatter into small pieces that are not sharp.

"You cannot cut yourself and it doesn't hurt anyone else," ACR Glass said.

Forester adds the edges of tempered glass are sensitive and shattering happens much more frequently when edges are hit with blunt objects.

Even so, Chantal Ruchkall is warning her friends about what happened, and is looking to replace other tempered glass in her home.

"I’m thinking maybe I’ll go with something a little more basic."