Accredited European certification is the basis for all insurance rate recommendations for safes in Europe (excluding UK) and provides a legal proof of standard of burglary and fire resistance for safes, secure cabinets, and strongrooms. EU Parliament regulation 765/2008 created the system that provides the legal basis of accreditation for the burglary resistance certification of safes and cabinets to:
- European standard EN1143-1 - the burglary resistance certification for safes
- European standard EN1143-2 - the burglary resistance certification for deposit safes
- European standard EN15659 - the protection of paper documents from fire
- European standard EN1047-1 - the protection of data from fire
- European standard EN14450 - the burglary resistance certification for cabinets
The ultimate protection against misrepresentation, when there is a need to ensure a secure storage product is suitable for a given risk or for regulatory compliance purposes such as the protection of important GDPR related documents or data, anything less than accredited European certification and the legal proof of standard it provides can leave an organisation or consumer vulnerable.
With the exception of the UK, insurance rate recommendations throughout Europe are sourced from the insurance industry itself and provide a guide for both insurers and consumers in selecting a safe suitable for a given level of risk. In Ireland, the only source of insurance limit recommendations in relation to cash and jewellery cover for certified safes, sourced directly from the insurance industry, are Irish Safes Rating Group rates. Although you may encounter alternative and often highly inflated rates advertised by some safe sellers, especially when it comes to jewellery cover, such speculative marketing rates have no basis in reality and are a good indication of the overall reliability of a supplier. Official insurance rate recommendations in all European countries only apply to safes with accredited European certification of burglary resistance to European standard EN1143-1 as a legal proof of standard.
Accredited European certification marks
Recommended rates of insurance cover rise in line with certified burglary resistance grade of a safe, which can range from 0 to VI, as ascertained by an accredited European testing laboratory and subsequently certified by a completely independent accredited certification body, however, the final rate of cover is subject to the overall risk assessment of the insurer, while basic requirements are a monitored intruder alarm is installed on the premises where the safe is located and the safe is anchored correctly.
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A safe with properly accredited European certification of burglary resistance will display at least one stamped metal certification plate on the inside of the door. This will always be a stamped metal plate, never a sticker and will display the word "SAFE" and the standard EN1143-1 alongside the logo of an accredited European certification body (not the manufacturer). In the case of ECB-S and VdS certification plates, ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation will be annotated. The same information is also available on an accredited certification document which should always be asked for.
A unit with accredited European certification of fire resistance will display a stamped metal plate with the words "Light Fire Storage Unit" and the standard EN15659 for paper documents, or the words "Data Cabinet" and the standard EN1047-1. Whereas the EN15659 standard is only revelevant to paper documents, under the EN1047-1 standard a unit may be certified for paper documents or data, and this will be clearly marked. This plate will often appear alongside a separate certification of burglary resistance. In the case of ECB-S VdS certification plates, ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation will be annotated.
An accredited European certification document certifying the burglary or fire resistance of a safe or cabinet should always be asked for when purchasing either product. This document should match the product details displayed on the products metal certification plate and most importantly, confirm that the body issuing the certificate of compliance is accredited to ISO/IEC 17065, your legal assurance that the certifier is properly accredited under European law, providing a legal proof of standard. Of course, when it comes to product certification plates and certificates of conformity there will always be suppliers who will try and pass off a variety of plates, documents, approvals and guarantees as the genuine article, so it is important to always look for the logo of an accredited European certification body and the ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation for long term peace of mind.
The Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) (UK) is a mark commonly encountered in the Irish market yet the body has never been an accredited certification body for the burglary resistance of safes, not even in the UK, according to UKAS. |
Owned by the UK's Master Locksmiths Association, Sold Secure says on its website that it is "the premier testing and certification house" yet similar to LPCB has never being accredited to either test or certify safes in the UK or Europe. |
The most common unaccredited fire resistance mark in the Irish market is undoubtedly NT FIRE 017 a nordic conformity assessment founded in 1973. This mark has no relationship to certified fire resistance under accredited European standards in either testing or application. |
Both the Association of Insurance Surveyors Ltd "AiS Safe Rating List" and "AiS Approved" sticker might sound like products of the insurance industry but are actually marketing vehicles for completely untested safes as well as pre-2000 second-hand safes which should be presumed to contain asbestos. |
A UK Police initiative, the Secure by Design “Police Preferred” scheme provides highly questionable endorsement for safes and secure cabinets that have no record of accredited burglary resistance testing and certification whatsoever. When displayed on a safe the mark has no bearing on suitability for any purpose. |
Certified Safes Ireland™ in-house advisor on keeping jewellery, watch collections, goods, cash, documents and data, safe, secure, yet readily accessible, 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).
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 ....