The Hidden Truth About Asbestos In Pre-2000 Safes And Cabinets

Locksmiths, safe technicians, teachers, office workers, legal professionals, the financial sector, fire fighters, An Garda Síochána and the general public have been put at risk of exposure to highly carcinogenic asbestos dust through inaction, regulatory incompetence and misinformation.

The ban on the sale of products containing asbestos Europe-wide in 2005, far from leading to a reduction in the number of safes and cabinets likely to contain the carcinogen in Ireland, instead saw a surge as unscrupulous traders capitalised on the opportunity to make huge profits from  thousands of pre-2000 safes and cabinets becoming available on the European and UK second-hand market.

High costs associated with asbestos disposal, a low level of awareness of its use in safes and cabinets and the free movement of goods within Europe led to a perfect storm that has put thousands of consumers, office staff, safe technicians and locksmiths at risk of asbestos exposure, both due to the high percentage of pre-2000 office cabinets, and safes still in use and the fact such units are still being sold in Ireland in 2024, Ireland’s Department of Justice itself attempting to sell cabinets known to contain asbestos on the open market as recently as 2022. 

When Certified Safes Ireland™ highlighted this issue in an article for Ireland’s Law Society Gazette in 2019, a campaign of misinformation by representatives of Ireland’s safe supply industry was to follow, while Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the locksmith service regulator, The Private Security Authority (PSA) (under the aegis of the Department of Justice) have both spread misinformation on the true scale of the problem while doing little raise awareness of the issue or remove these dangerous products from sale and use.

The Use Of Asbestos In Safes And Cabinets

Asbestos was used in safes, document and filing cabinets in Europe and the UK from the mid-19th century until the late 1990s and is highly carcinogenic. Even in tiny amounts, asbestos dust can lead to lung, laryngeal cancers, and malignant mesothelioma. The mesothelioma survival rate typically being 4–18 months after diagnosis. 

According to the Frankfurt based European Security Systems Association (ESSA), the largest representative organisation of safe manufacturers that produce in and sell safes to Europe,  documents show asbestos was still being used in the manufacture of safes and document cabinets in Europe as late as 1996, with some manufacturers likely using asbestos in their products later than that date, while data suggests the consequences of the use of the carcinogen in the production of safes, document cabinets, data cabinets and strongrooms, for locksmiths in particular, is far more alarming than the most pessimistic of expert predictions. 

Locksmiths And Asbestos Related Disease

A study conducted between 2008 and 2018 by the Institute for Occupational Medicine, at the German Social Accident Insurance Institute, later published by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine in 2022, looked at 2439 male participants who had asbestos related disease of the pleura or lung. Participants of the study were chosen solely based on having a benign asbestos related lung or pleural disease, however, the breakdown of their professions is revealing: 

Locksmith (30%)
Shipbuilder (28%)
Plumber, heating, air conditioning installer (15%) 
Builder (11%)
Electrician (8%)
Insulator (8%) 

What is particularly frightening about these study results is the fact that according to 2023 German labour statistics, there were 2,294,823 builders in Germany but only 1178 locksmiths, 0.05% the number of builders.

Health And Safety Authority Misinformation

Despite being given documented evidence by Certified Safes Ireland™ in 2019, showing asbestos had been used in safe, cabinet and strongroom production by major European manufacturers as late as 1996, from September 2019 to September 2023 an enforcement notice published by Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority (HSA) “Asbestos risks in safes and fire resistant cabinets” misinformed Government departments, locksmiths, safe technicians and the general public that asbestos in safe and office cabinet production had been “phased out” between the “1960s and the 1980s”.

This false claim was not only published, but when challenged, by Certified Safes Ireland™ the HSA response was “it is clearly a source of some contention within the industry”, accompanied by the warning that “advice in its entirety” might be withdrawn if Certified Safes Ireland™ continued to ask for the identity of the source of “contention” that could possibly supersede the documented data provided by European safe manufactures themselves, Certified Safes Ireland™ had given to the HSA prior to the publication of the enforcement notice.

It was only after Ireland’s Department of Justice (DOJ) placed two (circa 1990) document cabinets on the open market, exact models listed in an inventory of safes and cabinets containing asbestos Certified Safes Ireland™ had given to the HSA in 2019 that the HSA would re-open a dialogue on correcting the misinformation it had published, but even then, it took another year to issue that correction, the HSA finally updating the advice in September 2023 to now read:

"It is known that asbestos was used by some safe manufacturers into the late 1990s."

“Contention Within The Industry”

On the 5th of December 2023, emails between British Safe & Vault Trade Association (BSVTA) offshoot Eurosafe Ireland and Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority in 2019 were released to Certified Safes Ireland™ under the Freedom of Information Act. These emails show a representative of a group of Irish safe suppliers called Eurosafe Ireland told the HSA that the use of asbestos in office cabinet and safe manufacturing had ended in the “early sixties,” forty years before it actually did, and asbestos was “seldom if ever used in document safes”.

Although one might have thought it obvious the primary use of asbestos in safes and cabinets was the protection of documents from fire, the HSA reaction was they were reassured as to “the limited extent of the issue”, despite these claims conflicting with data provided from European safe manufacturers themselves, as well as the HSA being aware of a document published by The Association of Insurance Surveyors, a notable member of Eurosafe Ireland’s BSVTA parent organisation, which recommended insurance cover rates for hundreds of second-hand safes presumed to contain asbestos for the Irish market.

Private Security Authority Silence

Since Certified Safes Ireland first made Ireland’s statutory security service regulator, the Private Security Authority (PSA) aware of the presence of asbestos in a large number of pre-2000 office cabinets and safes in Ireland in 2019, the reaction to date has only served to demonstrate a worrying lack of competence from an organisation that has announced its intention to regulate the supply and installation of safes in Ireland in the near future. 

From the outset of our exchanges with the PSA on the potential of locksmith services to disturb asbestos in pre-2000 document cabinets, filing cabinets and safes, CEO Paul Scallan seemed to struggle not only with understanding the issue but understanding the role of the PSA as a regulator. In a letter sent on the 5th of April 2023, Mr Scallan said,“The PSA's role is the regulation of the private security industry in Ireland including the supply and installation of safes. We have no role in the regulation of filing cabinets or similar units”, while Mr Scallan conceded in the same letter, "some locksmiths may not be aware of the risks" in relation to the asbestos issue.

Most of what Mr Scallan said on that occasion is incorrect. 

Firstly, the PSA is not a “security INDUSTRY regulator” but a security SERVICE regulator, established under the Private Security Services Act 2004. When Mr Scallan said the PSAs role includes “the supply and installation of safes. We have no role in the regulation of filing cabinets or similar units”, he was clearly referring to matters relating to the supply of goods , an area outside of PSA remit, whereas a regulator of security services should have been more concerned with the potential of locksmith services to disturb asbestos inside pre-2000 units exposing both locksmiths and the consumer to the deadly carcinogen. 

This letter from the PSA Chief Executive came just a short time after Certified Safes Ireland™ was forced to intervene as Ireland’s Department of Justice (DOJ) placed (Circa 1990) asbestos contaminated document cabinets for sale on the open market, while ironically, the cabinets DOJ had offered for sale were exact models listed in an inventory of units containing asbestos Certified Safes Ireland™ gave to the PSA in 2019. 

Within weeks of our writing to then Minister for Justice Simon Harris highlighting the illegal “placing on the market” by the DOJ, the PSA was to issue PSA Note 90:2022 which mentioned asbestos for the first time. Unfortunately, in an obvious knee-jerk reaction to events at the DOJ and having sought no further advice on the substance of issue, PSA Note 90:2022 solely addressed locksmiths “involved in the purchase and/or sale of second hand safes”, warning locksmiths of sanctions. This was a clear prohibition on the sale of goods, while the actual area of PSA responsibility according to the Private Security Services Act 2004, the regulation of the provision of security services to ensure they are safely and professionally delivered to the consumer, was completely ignored.

After highlighting this glaring error repeatedly during 2023 to both the PSA and the DOJ, the DOJ now under the leadership of Minister Helen McEntee, an extraordinary exchange took place on a PSA LinkedIn post in November 2023, which made it clear the PSA CEO, like the HSA in preceding years, was now ready to dispense advice on the issue that contradicted the known facts. To the question, “asbestos is dangerous and as far as I am aware has not been used in safe manufacturing for 40/50 years. If I am wrong, please let me know”, the PSA CEO replied, “Locksmiths may work on old safes".

No mention of the risk to health posed by pre-2000 safes the PSA CEO had acknowledged in his letter just a year before, or the evidence Certified Safes Ireland™ had given him in 2019 showing asbestos was still being used in safe manufacturing in Europe as late as 1996 and likely beyond, while locksmiths were now told they could and work on potentially dangerous units without any asbestos awareness training whatsoever.

It was at this point Certified Safes Ireland™ wrote to the PSA board demanding Mr Scallan’s resignation and an examination of the PSAs failure to address this potent health and safety issue arising directly from the provision of the locksmith services the PSA is charged with regulating. 

With the reply to this letter, received in December 2023, came an attempt at gas lighting that beggars belief. “as the Chief Executive has already stated to you, the health risks associated with asbestos and the prohibition on the sale of goods containing asbestos are not matters for which the PSA has a statutory responsibility.”

Although an acknowledgment of what Certified Safes Ireland™ had been telling the PSA for over a year, that the sale of goods is not an area for which the PSA has a responsibility, this was a confirmation phrased as if some party other than the PSA had suggested the sale of goods was a PSA responsibility.

On the same day this email from the PSA board was received, a short email was also received from Paul Scallan himself, which read, “It is obvious that you lack an understanding of the PSA, security industry regulation, legislation, the part played by European standards, my previous correspondence to you and my role as Chief Executive of the PSA. I do not propose engaging in correspondence based on your misunderstanding of these matters.”

To date the PSA continues to ignore its responsibility to raise awareness of the danger posed by asbestos if it is disturbed by locksmith services involving pre-2000 office cabinets and safes, while the only note issued by the PSA to date, has been a prohibition on the sale of safes, something the majority of Irish locksmiths were never involved in and for which the PSA has admitted it has no remit. (See PSA Note 90:2022)

Asbestos Issue At The Department Of Justice

In 2022, Ireland’s Department of Justice (DOJ) placed two (circa 1990) document cabinets on the open market, exact models listed in an inventory of safes and cabinets containing asbestos Certified Safes Ireland™ had given to the PSA in 2019. We quickly wrote to the DOJ pointing out both the nature of the danger posed to potential buyers and DOJ staff by such products, as well as the illegality of offering them for sale. 

Within weeks, the PSA (under DOJ aegis) issued a note warning locksmiths against the sale of “older safes”. This was odd as the sale of goods is outside PSA remit, while the risk of locksmith “services” disturbing asbestos in older safes and cabinets, an issue well within PSA responsibility, was never mentioned.

When we asked the DOJ about this in December 2023 we received the following contradictory statement. 

“The PSA mission is to regulate the activities of those involved in the private security industry to ensure that the interests of consumers are fully protected” “the possibility that certain safes may contain asbestos is not related to the PSAs role”.

Apparently in the opinion of Ireland's Department of Justice it is not in the interest of consumers they are made aware of the "possibility" of exposure to asbestos dust that may be disturbed during routine locksmith work on aging office cabinets and safes.  

The AIS Safe Rating List (2005 to 2019)

The "placing on the market" of any product which contains asbestos has been illegal in Ireland since 2000, nevertheless, a UK document called the Association of Insurance Surveyors “Safe Rating List”, first published in 2005, (the same year asbestos was banned Europe-wide) recommended insurance cover rates for hundreds of pre-2000 safes presumed to contain asbestos as “suitable” for the Irish market, until 2019, stating: 

 "The list appropriate for use in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Éire and AIS makes no representation or promise that it is appropriate for use outside these territories” 

According to the list, just one year after first publication, recommended insurance rates for pre-2000 units safes were even increased by the AIS Safe Committee as a consequence of “comments” from “suppliers of reconditioned safes", in other words, an increase that could only have resulted in an even more powerful marketing tool for uncertified second-hand safes. 

For context, it should also be noted that safes given rates by the AIS have been confirmed by their manufacturers as containing asbestos.

BSI Code Of Practice BSI 7582: 2005 to 2021

In the same year the AIS Safe Rating List first appeared, the British Standards Institution (BSI) published BSI 7582: 2005 “Code of practice for reconditioning of used safes”. A product of BSI Technical Committee GW/2, which included Association of Insurance Surveyors (AIS) representation, the standard was remarkable as it applied to safes that could have been manufactured as long ago as 1975 yet made no mention of the danger posed by asbestos in units manufactured before 2000, as it outlined procedures for making such units suitable for re-sale. 

 In 2021 an open letter from Certified Safes Ireland™ to the BSI saw BSI 7582: 2005 officially withdrawn, while the word “asbestos” is now mentioned for the first time in a revised standard, re-titled “Reconditioning of used safes and secure cabinets. Code of practice”. Despite this prompt action by BSI, however, the previous BSI standard is still referred to by many second-hand safe sellers while the new standard falsely states asbestos was “not used by many manufacturers”.

Importation Of Pre-2000 Units Since 2000

With the availability of huge quantities of safes and cabinets on the second-hand market, their previous owners usually having paid for their removal and disposal, an official British Standard on refurbishing second-hand safes that made no mention of asbestos, and the official sounding Association of Insurance Surveyors “Safe Rating List” attributing speculative recommended insurance rates to uncertified pre-2000 units, it is no perhaps surprise that the importation and sale of pre-2000 safes and cabinets into Ireland has happened on an industrial scale.

Below are units confirmed to contain asbestos from just one manufacturer, Fichet-Bauche, a brand well known in Ireland, that appeared in versions of the AIS Safe Rating List the AIS claimed were “appropriate for use in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Éire”. Please note this data was provided by this highly ethical manufacturer, in the public interest. 

BR - Document cabinet (1970), BAGC - Safe (1976), 3010, 4010, BAR - Safes (1981), GC, GC68 - Safes (1984), 170DF - Deposit Safe (1984), Entreprise - Safe (1987), Ordina 110, 210, 310.

The Nostalgia Market

In recent years a dangerous trend of upcycling antique safes as drinks cabinets, flower stands or Objet d'art has emerged, spurred on by decor gurus and second-hand safe traders, unaware of the numerous dangers hidden inside many ornate antique safes, including asbestos. 

One of the most common and easily recognisable antique safes that appears on the second-hand market in Ireland is the Milner 212. In 1840 Thomas Milner patented a mixture of asbestos and mica to protect the contents of a safe from combustion. Hidden holes intentionally drilled in the top interior walls would allow steam resulting from the heating of the mixture to escape into the interior, thus saturating and protecting contents.

Unfortunately these holes also allow asbestos leakage into a safe as the mixture breaks down with age, often leaving a toxic orange or brown residue in the bottom of such units, which many people mistake for rust.

When A Safe Or Cabinet Must Be Presumed To Contain Asbestos

Due to the preponderance of industry evidence that asbestos was used in European office cabinet and safe manufacturing up to 2000 and the potency of even brief exposure to this deadly carcinogen, it is only prudent that all pre-2000 safes and office cabinets must be presumed to contain asbestos unless confirmed otherwise, as a necessary and logical precaution to protect health.

Any safe or cabinet that does not display an accredited stamped metal certification plate on the inside of its door or that is not marked by the manufacturer to say that it does not contain asbestos, must be presumed to contain asbestos. 

In the case of uncertified units, if a verifiable and clear indication that the date of manufacture is after 2000 is not available, such a unit has to be considered a likely candidate to conceal asbestos or other hazardous substances that could pose a serious danger to health.

 For confidential help or advice on this subject call: +353 1 7076011

Certified Safes Ireland™ in-house advisor on the historical use of asbestos in safes, document cabinets, data cabinets and strongrooms is Alan Donohoe Redd.

Alan Donohoe Redd is a member of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) Working Group responsible for writing European Standards for safes, strongrooms (vaults), secure cabinets and physical data protection for the European Union and a member of the U.S. Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Standards Technical Panel TC72 covering standards for fire resistance of record protection devices. Alan is also a registered NATO supplier and a longstanding member of the European Security Systems Association. Alan has a vast range of experience spanning almost 40 years encompassing installation of safes, strongrooms, physical data protection, CCTV, alarms, access control, secure storage control systems and Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) specification, design and installation. 

An expert on standards and fraud issues related to secure storage in Europe, the UK and the use of asbestos in European safe and cabinet manufacturing, Alan has had articles related to these subjects published by The Law Society Gazette and Irish Broker Magazine, has forced retractions of multiple false claims related to secure storage offerings to the public and has been pivotal in having misleading standards and practices recognised and withdrawn in Ireland, the UK and at a European level.

Alan's seminars on safes, strongrooms and high net worth secure storage have been part of Continuing Professional Development for underwriters and insurers having been awarded CPD points by the Insurance Institute of Ireland and the Chartered Insurance Institute (UK).

 Alan's expertise has been relied on by:

N.A.T.O. Europe, The U.S. Air Force (Europe), The National Treasury Management Agency (Ireland), The Department Of Communications (NCSC Cyber Security) (Ireland), The Revenue Commissioners, Electricity Supply Board (Cyber Security) (Ireland), The Danish Defence Forces (Afghanistan), PayPal (Worldwide), Grant Thornton, The Insurance Institute of Ireland, The Royal College Of Surgeons, BFC Bank, Interxion Data Centres, The Private Security Authority, Isle of Man Gold Bullion, Brown Thomas, Bvlgari, Boodles, Druids Glen, The Shelbourne Hotel, and many others ....