My intention was to make you aware of possibilities so that if you use carboys regularly that you are cautious with them.
I'm not that experienced with them (I'm a newbee, remember
) but some things that make sense to me:
*Inspect them regularly for small cracks in the glass
*Don't pour hot liquids into a cool carboy or really hot liquids into a room temp carboy. Widely differing bottle and liquid can cause cracks.
*Many folks set their carboys in milk crates for bottom support and I would assume for a catchment for some of the glass should a carboy break.
*Don't set a full carboy down on a concrete floor...you will not be able to precisely set the carboy down and one point of the bottle will "bump" first with all the mass of the liquid inside the bottle pressing against that single contact point. Put old carpet, thick carboard, foam matting, whatever down to set the carboy on.
*Some people use skateboards or small dollies to move filled carboys...use with caution.
*I really don't like the idea of those metal, plastic coated handles that go around the carboys' necks. They put sideways tension on the glass neck of the bottle. Definitely don't use them to carry a full carboy.
*Move glass carboys as little as possible. Fill them at the spot they will ferment/age.
*Wear heavy shoes or boots when working with the carboys...shattered glass will come to rest at "feet level", though injuries happen during the glass's trip to the floor, too.
*Know your own capability in regards to holding and carrying heavy objects and don't try to impress yourself with your awesome strenght.
Here's a couple of threads that I came up with by searching for
carboy safety:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/glass-carboy-safety-tips-193317/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/careful-glass-carboys-297235/index2.html
The article below is promoting moving away from glass...one side of the plastic vs. glass debate. There's a link within the short article to a list of carboy accidents that include a short description of what happened. Again, I want to emphasize that these accidents are infrequent but they *do* happen...I guess it depends on how much risk we want to take...or not take.
http://brewing.lustreking.com/articles/nomoreglass.html
Best wishes,
Ed