BOSTON -- They are popular items found in homes across the country, but glass tables in your living room or on your patio could be a safety hazard.

Team 5's Susan Wornick, however, reported that things may be changing.

Tempered glass in tables and shower stalls can often shatter without warning, leaving dangerous pieces that can cause serious injury.

Last December, an 11-year-old Providence girl bled to death after falling on a shattered glass table in her home.

Team 5 Investigates discovered there were no rules or regulations pertaining to glass furniture or other glass products found in most homes.

But a process called lamination may change things. A heavy plastic sandwiched between layers of glass under intense heat can prevent glass from shattering. It is what is used in car windshields by law. Laminated glass stays intact, even when broken.

A consortium of safety experts and glass industry leaders have written a standard to laminate furniture glass in the same way windshields are laminated.

Once that regulation is adopted as a voluntary move, it is likely to be enacted as a federal law shortly after.