Safety glass just means the glass has added safety features - these can be of different types. Laminated glass is a common one, with multiple layers of glass b

Safety glass just means the glass has added safety features - these can be of different types. Laminated glass is a common one, with multiple layers of glass bonded together. If the glass is broken, the bonding material will (should) hold the glass together. This is presumably what the OP's glass was meant to be. This is common for skylights and automotive windshields. Another type is toughened glass where the glass is treated (toughened) so that when it breaks it crumbles into small granular chunks that aren't sharp or dangerous in the way glass shards are. This is presumably what you were thinking about, and might have been what OP had installed based on their description of the failure. This is common in the passenger windows of cars. It's common after an accident to see a broken but intact windshield (laminated glass) and other windows to be completely missing as they fragmented into small chunks (toughened). There is also wire mesh glass, that you've probably seen in more industrial and commercial settings that is a lot more fire resistant than plain glass.