Risk of falling cupboard due to earthquake
It is no wonder when and where earthquakes occur anywhere in Japan in an earthquake-prone country.
In such cases, in the case of stacked furniture like cupboards, there is a danger that the upper part will bounce and fall and move around the floor all the way. Also, the way you move will change depending on how you swing the house itself, how you shake each piece of furniture, and the type of flooring materials on which furniture is located.
If the floor is a soft one like folding, the risk of collapse will be higher.
Recently, the number of high-rise buildings like tower apartment has increased, and there is also concern about the increase in damage caused by “long-period earthquake ground motion”.
Although long-period ground motion is slower than normal shaking, it refers to earthquake motions that sway greatly for a long time, and it is said that the top of a high-rise building will swing up to several meters at the maximum.
With such a shake, even a heavy item of about 100 kg will move several meters or there is a danger of falling.
For this reason, in skyscrapers, it is said that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is obliged to take long-term earthquake countermeasures, but measures that can be taken from everyday are not done and large items like cupboards collapse when an earthquake occurs It is necessary to assume what kind of thing will happen.
Stick rod, top, filler to prevent falling
First of all, as a countermeasure against falling down of the cupboard, there is a method of using upper placement, filler, fixing with a stick rod or the like.
The top is a shelf with a door to be placed further on the cupboard, but shelves are added, so you can raise the storage capacity of the cupboard.
On the other hand, a filler is placed on a cupboard just like a top placed, so you can not store things like a top. It simply fills the gap with the ceiling and makes it look neat.
However, both have the effect of preventing falling over themselves by eliminating the gap with the ceiling, and depending on the manufacturer, metal fittings for fixing on the ceiling may be attached. Also, by narrowing the gap with the ceiling, you can increase the effect by installing a stick rod there.
Sliding door is safer than opening door
In the past, sliding doors were mainstream in dish shelves, but when Western style design became mainstream, open doors became mainstream.
As for earthquake countermeasures, as for the big tremor that the cupboard falls down, how to fix the cupboard itself becomes a problem, but in terms of preventing the tableware from popping out from the dish rack, the sliding door is more valid. Sliding doors are less likely to open due to earthquake shaking, but they are easy to open in the case of hinged doors.
For this reason, recently the cupboards of sliding doors are being reexamined, and there are increasingly more fashionable designs.
Also, even in areas other than earthquake countermeasures, the cupboards of sliding doors do not open like doors like doors, so that dishes can be taken in and out even if the space is limited.
Earthquake-proof latch function with open door
It is safe to choose one with earthquake-resistant latch function in order to prevent dishes from jumping out during the earthquake even in the cupboard of the doors.
The earthquake-resistant latch is a metal fitting that prevents the door of the cupboard from opening due to the shaking of the earthquake. When the door opens due to the shaking of the earthquake, dishes etc will pop out, but if the earthquake resistance latch is installed, if the seismic intensity exceeds a certain level, it will be structured to automatically stop, or it will always be locked The door opens by an earthquake, preventing dishes etc from falling. Also, in the case of a structure that automatically stops, the lock is automatically released when the shake falls.
For this reason, it is effective to attach to the high part of the cupboard which is easy to crack dishes when falling.
If it is made into glass, prevent scattering
In the event of an earthquake, the glass of the cupboard has the danger of cracking when dishes etc are going to jump out. In addition to the risk of directly scratching the body of the scattered glass, there is also the possibility of secondary injury, such as stepping on at the time of accident and causing injury. For this reason, we are recommending cupboards that use glass that was scatterproofed.
Glass breaks and it becomes a sharp shape and it is very dangerous. Glass pieces will be scattered even if tempered glass which has been strengthened by 3 to 5 times as well as ordinary glass breaks. In this respect, in the case of glass that was subjected to scattering prevention processing, it is safe without scattering debris.
Also, even with ordinary glasses, it is also possible to take measures against scattering by spraying just by spraying the transparency and strength as it is, or by preventing scattering of glass by sticking, or by a scattering prevention film.