Safe Standards and Testing

QUALITY MATTERS - STANDARDS

Burglary Safes / Cash security Safes

Cash rating – Overnight cash rating given by the safe manufacturer (i.e. it is their view on what cover an insurer is likely to give).
Valuables cover - Most insurers give up to 10 times the cash rating for valuable contents, e.g, a 3K cash rating would be 30K for valuables (Please Check with your insurer first).

Burglary / Cash Safes – adhere to recognised testing standards, such as the Association of Burglary Insurance Surveyors Ltd (A.B.I.S) or the more recent European grading system. Safes that comply with these standards are preferred/stipulated by all recognised Insurers.

A.B.I.S cover – Original insurers guide pre-dates the Euro grade system, however the A.B.I.S. testing criteria is more stringent (stricter) than the more recent introduced European rating system.

Euro-Grade - This system was devised by the insurance industry to give rating consistency Europe-wide. Where a safe has a Euro–grade insurers would give cover equal to the rating.

Safe Testing Standards

S1 EN14450 - 2K cash rating

S2 EN14450 - 4K Cash rating

European Ratings

Grade 0 = £6k
Grade 1 = £10k
Grade 2 = £17.5k
Grade 3 = £35K
Grade 4 = £60k
Grade 5 = £100k
Grade 6 = £150k

Fire Protection Safes

There are many types of fire protection safes/cabinets currently on the market. Safes/cabinets are tested for 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes within a controlled environment and are subject to a variety of tests, such as Fire & Impact, Explosion etc. There are two testing levels, one for Document and one for Media protection. This is because the temperatures at which data media (e.g 52 C) and documents (e.g 177 C) deteriorate differs.

We recommend safes/cabinets that comply with European or American testing standards. These standards would include the VDMA (German), UL (USA), and NT (Swedish) Fire Test.

Please refer to our approved Supplier Page for a list of security providers whose products and services comply with the above standards.