bomb proof desk testing, 243 lbs tnt
Researchers blow up dummies at desks
Canadian Press
July 26, 2005
OTTAWA - The Canadian government is considering blast-proof desks in some overseas embassies to protect against terrorist attacks, says a Calgary businessman whose product was tested by Defence Department researchers.
Ron Quigley of Gunnar Manufacturing Inc. has been talking to Foreign Affairs and U.S. State Department officials since Defence Research and Development Canada conducted tests on the blast-hardened desk he designed.
"We've already installed product at the site of the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad," Mr. Quigley said in an interview after federal scientists tried to blow several desks up and concluded the product was of "obvious advantage."
In preparing a 46-page report dated last December, Sheri Hlady - a rocket scientist based in Suffield, Alta. - blew up 110 kilograms of TNT next to the desks, tried to squash them with a crusher and generally abused them.
Aftermath of a test
The desks, which are made of blast-proof materials, have a "personal protection pod" and can be bolted down, came out with flying colours.
"For decades, American organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have recommended that people use desks or tables as shelter during natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes or tornadoes," Ms. Hlady wrote. "Terrorist bombings have become a fact of life.
"In both cases . . . flying debris and structural collapse figure prominently in the resultant human injuries and deaths."
Over the course of several tests she called "great fun," Ms. Hlady detonated explosives 30 metres from both a blast-hardened desk and a standard office desk - all as wooden dummies sat primly by in office chairs.
With its protection pod and the surrounding area outfitted with air-pressure gauges and sensors, a second test detonated another 110 kilograms of TNT at less than 20 metres from the blast-hardened desk only.
"Results show that a blast-hardened desk holds together well when subjected to a blast," Ms. Hlady wrote. "A standard desk, under the same conditions, is reduced to pieces and shards."
The state of the office worker after 110 kilograms of TNT goes off 20 metres away is another matter, however, regardless of the presence of a blast-hardened desk.
While Ms. Hlady acknowledged human vulnerability is difficult to measure, she estimated that injuries would have been minor in the first blast and severe or lethal in the second.
Ms. Hlady said warnings can alert office workers of impending tornadoes or hurricanes, and earthquakes can go on for several seconds, rising or falling in intensity. But there is not necessarily warning of an explosion.
Should an office workers survive a blast, however, past experience suggests he or she would have time to take refuge in the steel-walled safety pod, with its 11 reinforced steel support tubes, before the building collapses.
With a dummy cowering inside the pod, the blast-hardened desk showed "significant resistance" to the crushing force of a 37-tonne press, though the researcher cautioned this would not necessarily translate in real life.
"Whether or not a person could survive the blast and take refuge in the pod is impossible to determine," Ms. Hlady concluded.
"However, should the person survive the initial blast, the hardened desk does provide the opportunity for the survivor to take refuge."
Her report is complete with the requisite pictures of cowering dummies and destroyed standard desks along with diagrams of the test site and graphs showing pressure shifts both inside and outside the pod.
In her conclusions, Ms. Hlady recommended some changes, including eliminating laminate backing in the pod, ensuring cabinet latches are more blast-resistant, and adding a stronger "roof," or desktop.
Mr. Quigley said all the recommended modifications have been made.
But in an interview, Ms. Hlady had one note of caution: "How often do you have desks out in the middle of the prairie?"
"Both blast tests were conducted in an open environment," she wrote in her report. "A real office environment is confined by hallways, walls and cubicles, not to mention it is much more cluttered.
"A blast could turn common office items into deadly projectiles. Blast wave reflection off of walls and cubicles is very complex and beyond the scope of this report. Future tests should include some of these items."
Mr. Quigley started the company in 1979 to tackle office environment issues - acoustic sound enclosures for noisy office equipment; ergonomic computer furniture and recyclable, mobile wall systems for inside office buildings.
He began work on the blast-hardened desks, along with kevlar-lined chairs, reinforced office partitions and tie-down computer systems, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The desk may also be equipped with a first-aid kit, water supply and transponder to aid searchers in building collapses.
"If you're the president, you can afford this," said Ms. Hlady, who specializes in explosive physics. "I don't think everybody gets that desk."
Canadian Press
July 26, 2005
OTTAWA - The Canadian government is considering blast-proof desks in some overseas embassies to protect against terrorist attacks, says a Calgary businessman whose product was tested by Defence Department researchers.
Ron Quigley of Gunnar Manufacturing Inc. has been talking to Foreign Affairs and U.S. State Department officials since Defence Research and Development Canada conducted tests on the blast-hardened desk he designed.
"We've already installed product at the site of the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad," Mr. Quigley said in an interview after federal scientists tried to blow several desks up and concluded the product was of "obvious advantage."
In preparing a 46-page report dated last December, Sheri Hlady - a rocket scientist based in Suffield, Alta. - blew up 110 kilograms of TNT next to the desks, tried to squash them with a crusher and generally abused them.
Aftermath of a test
The desks, which are made of blast-proof materials, have a "personal protection pod" and can be bolted down, came out with flying colours.
"For decades, American organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have recommended that people use desks or tables as shelter during natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes or tornadoes," Ms. Hlady wrote. "Terrorist bombings have become a fact of life.
"In both cases . . . flying debris and structural collapse figure prominently in the resultant human injuries and deaths."
Over the course of several tests she called "great fun," Ms. Hlady detonated explosives 30 metres from both a blast-hardened desk and a standard office desk - all as wooden dummies sat primly by in office chairs.
With its protection pod and the surrounding area outfitted with air-pressure gauges and sensors, a second test detonated another 110 kilograms of TNT at less than 20 metres from the blast-hardened desk only.
"Results show that a blast-hardened desk holds together well when subjected to a blast," Ms. Hlady wrote. "A standard desk, under the same conditions, is reduced to pieces and shards."
The state of the office worker after 110 kilograms of TNT goes off 20 metres away is another matter, however, regardless of the presence of a blast-hardened desk.
While Ms. Hlady acknowledged human vulnerability is difficult to measure, she estimated that injuries would have been minor in the first blast and severe or lethal in the second.
Ms. Hlady said warnings can alert office workers of impending tornadoes or hurricanes, and earthquakes can go on for several seconds, rising or falling in intensity. But there is not necessarily warning of an explosion.
Should an office workers survive a blast, however, past experience suggests he or she would have time to take refuge in the steel-walled safety pod, with its 11 reinforced steel support tubes, before the building collapses.
With a dummy cowering inside the pod, the blast-hardened desk showed "significant resistance" to the crushing force of a 37-tonne press, though the researcher cautioned this would not necessarily translate in real life.
"Whether or not a person could survive the blast and take refuge in the pod is impossible to determine," Ms. Hlady concluded.
"However, should the person survive the initial blast, the hardened desk does provide the opportunity for the survivor to take refuge."
Her report is complete with the requisite pictures of cowering dummies and destroyed standard desks along with diagrams of the test site and graphs showing pressure shifts both inside and outside the pod.
In her conclusions, Ms. Hlady recommended some changes, including eliminating laminate backing in the pod, ensuring cabinet latches are more blast-resistant, and adding a stronger "roof," or desktop.
Mr. Quigley said all the recommended modifications have been made.
But in an interview, Ms. Hlady had one note of caution: "How often do you have desks out in the middle of the prairie?"
"Both blast tests were conducted in an open environment," she wrote in her report. "A real office environment is confined by hallways, walls and cubicles, not to mention it is much more cluttered.
"A blast could turn common office items into deadly projectiles. Blast wave reflection off of walls and cubicles is very complex and beyond the scope of this report. Future tests should include some of these items."
Mr. Quigley started the company in 1979 to tackle office environment issues - acoustic sound enclosures for noisy office equipment; ergonomic computer furniture and recyclable, mobile wall systems for inside office buildings.
He began work on the blast-hardened desks, along with kevlar-lined chairs, reinforced office partitions and tie-down computer systems, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The desk may also be equipped with a first-aid kit, water supply and transponder to aid searchers in building collapses.
"If you're the president, you can afford this," said Ms. Hlady, who specializes in explosive physics. "I don't think everybody gets that desk."
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