If you have valuables, such as cash, jewellery, sentimental items, important documents or computer media, which would need extra protection in the event of a burglary or fire you should have a security safe.

Choosing the right type of security safe

Refer to the Safe Test Results page for more information on suitable Home / Domestic safes.

1. List all the items you need to protect.
   
2. What is your key concern, i.e. what do you want to protect your items against:- THEFT, FIRE, MAGNETISM, DUST. (see summary below, for snapshot on safe types).
   
   

   Safe Type	Suitability
   Burglary Safe - Cash Safe	For valuables, jewellery, money. Paperwork / legal docs, where fire protection is not a priority.
   Fire Safe – Document	All paperwork, including passports, birth certificates, legal docs etc.
   Fire Safe – Media	Protects document as well as media records. i.e. CD's, diskettes, photographs, negatives etc.

   
   
3. Where you plan to locate the safe, will it be free standing, under - floor or in the wall. You will need to consider both the internal and the external dimensions, in order to ensure that the safe will fit into its designated space.
   
4. Total sizes or volume of the items to be stored. It can be helpful to have the measurements of the largest item you will place in the safe in order to get a sense of the minimum dimensions you will require. Safes are a long-term investment. It is therefore important to identify both your short and long term requirements before choosing the appropriate size.
   
5. If applicable the total monetary value of goods, to be stored in the safe. Burglary -cash security safes are graded by a given cash rating, this is your guide to help determine the grade of safe you require. (This is important if you want cover by your insurance company)

Safe Classification (There are two standard types of security safes):-

1) Burglary resistant Safes

Burglary - Cash security safes designed to offer burglar resistance. However, due to their construction (e.g. body thickness, infill material) cash safes do offer some fire resistant qualities. Some cash safes benefit from a recognized fire protection testing accreditation. The level of security / protection offered by a cash security safe, will depend upon the design of the safe i.e. body thickness, (single or double walled construction) door thickness, complexity of the locking mechanism, weight of the safe (resistance to being uplifted) all these design features will help determine the cash rating given to the safe (see below and refer to Standards & Testing page).

Safe Cash rating – this is the 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 - as a guide, insurers typically give up to 10 times the cash rating for valuables, i.e. a 3K cash rating would be 30K for valuables (Please Check with your insurer first).

2) Fire Protection Safes

There are many types of fire protection safes - cabinets currently on the market. Safes - cabinets are tested for 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes within a controlled environment and are subject to a variety of tests, such as Fire & Impact, Explosion etc. Two testing levels, Document and Media protection. (For more information refer to Standards & Testing page).

Document Safe

Document safe - cabinet is designed to protect paper only, i.e. valuable documents, wills, share certificates, deeds etc.

Data / Media Safe

Media safe - cabinet is designed to protect disks and other audio/visual equipment such as video and cassette tapes from fire. These materials have special requirements because they are more fragile than paper documents. Diskettes, for example, can be destroyed at temperatures far below the maximum specified for papers. Storage of diskettes also requires humidity to be below a certain level.

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