University of Florida Professor Christopher Batich, along with research assistant Stephen Batich, wrote an article for Knovel Engineering Cases entitled Polymethylmethacrylate Skylights Can Weaken and Become More Brittle in Sunlight. I recently spoke with Professor Batich about his involvement with Polymethylmethacrylate Skylights.

K Exchange: How did you get involved with researching PMMA skylights?
Professor Christopher Batich: About 15 years ago I was asked to act as an expert witness in a case involving a skylight fatality, and found out how they age and weaken with time.  Each year since then I have seen similar accidents reported, and have kept intending to write an article about them.  This opportunity permitted me to get this information out.

KX: Do you feel like the types of accidents you’re mentioning, falls through skylights, are underreported? Do people have a false sense of security with PMMA skylights because they appear to be safer than glass?
CB: I do think that this is an under reported injury, since there is a penalty sometimes in reporting it.  There is certainly a false sense of security among some people.  For instance, a high school student stood on a skylight to take a picture a few years ago.  She fell through and died.

KX: You mention in the article that, in spite of being dangerous, these skylights conform to OSHA standards. Now that more is known, why do you think OSHA hasn’t taken an updated look at PMMA skylights?
CB: I would like to send them a copy of this article and see if they can help change the situation.  They have lot’s more to do than resources, so this may help them.

KX: In your article, the proposed solution was to enforce the requirements of safety screens over the skylights, would mandatory replacement of the PMMA skylights after a certain time reduce risks by eliminating the skylights that have become brittle?
CB: We have not done much research on solutions, since most of my work is on medical devices funded by NIH.  We could if we had funding to do so.  I like the idea of a mandatory replacement policy, but not sure how it would be monitored.

KX: Thank you  for speaking with us Professor, is there anything else you’ve looked at in conjunction with this you’d like to mention?
CB: Thanks!  As far as similar issues, I’d like to see someone should look at degradation of car headlights now that they are plastic instead of glass.  I bet lighting is impaired.

We would like to thank Professor Batich for taking his time to answer a few questions for us. If you’d like to learn more about the dangers of Polymethylmethacrylate skylights, please visit http://engineeringcases.knovelblogs.com/2010/07/08/polymethylmethacrylate-skylights-can-weaken-and-become-more-brittle-in-sunlight/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.