Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Are The Official Insurance Rates For Safes In Ireland?

The Irish Safes Ratings Group (I.S.R.G.) issue and periodically update recommended insurance ratings related to the overnight cash cover for certified safes, strong rooms and secure cabinets, conforming to European standards, for the Republic of Ireland. The National Standards Authority of Ireland and The Private Security Authority sit in an observer capacity on the group. Having been sourced directly from the Republic of Ireland's insurance industry the I.S.R.G. rates for certified safes are the official rates recognised by The European Security Systems Association.

It is not hard to encounter rates that differ from these indicative rates as unfortunately there are many safe suppliers, some well known, that invent higher rates to attract business. It is often the case that displaying false rates is an indication of more serious issues with a supplier who does so. Some insurers may decide that a higher cover is warranted based on their risk assessment, some may decide the specification of the safe is not adequate or may insist on various types of monitoring. For higher levels of cover a certain amount of negotiation is to be expected and additional measures may be required to mitigate risk.

The European standard for secure cabinets is: EN14450 The European standard for safes is: EN1143-1 The European standard for deposit safes is: EN1143-2
Amounts in €1000 units Contents cover is five times cash rating
Grade	Standard	Type	Cash	Jewellery / Contents
S1	EN 14450	Secure Cabinet	NA	NA
S2	EN 14450	Secure Cabinet	NA	NA
0	EN 1143-1	Safe	€7,500.00	€37,500.00
I	EN 1143-1 / EN 1143-2	Safe / Deposit Safe	€12,500.00	€62,500.00
II	EN 1143-1 / EN 1143-2	Safe / Deposit Safe	€25,000.00	€125,000.00
III	EN 1143-1 / EN 1143-2	Safe / Deposit Safe	€50,000.00	€250,000.00
IV	EN 1143-1 / EN 1143-2	Safe / Deposit Safe	€90,000.00	€450,000.00
V	EN 1143-1	Safe	€150,000.00	€750,000.00
VI	EN 1143-1	Safe	€200,000.00	€1000,000.00

• Recommended amounts are for indicative purposes only and are subject to approval by the insurer on a case by case basis
• Certified deposit safes are only available in grade 1 to 5 and display the certification EN1143-2. Any other mark not accepted
• Certified safes with a weight of <1.000 kg must be anchored at the place of installation in accordance with the EN1143-1 specification
• NA – Not advised
• PA – Prior approval recommended – It’s necessary to discuss this cover in detail with your insurance company as it falls outside normal recommendations

Download A Copy Of ISRG Rates - June 2020

2. Is A Unit Certified S1 / S2 Rated For Insurance Cover?

No. S1 & S2 Secure Cabinets EN14450 are not safes.

The “Secure Cabinet” standard EN11450 was introduced in Europe in 2005 and was intended as a standard for secure cabinet used in a domestic setting.

The standard for these “Secure Cabinets” and was never intended as a standard for a cash holding unit. Given this fact, to indicate a cash cover for these units is at best, misleading.

S1 or S2 cabinets have a zero rating in Ireland and many other European countries.

3. Are Under Floor Safes Rated For Insurance Cover In Ireland?

No. There is no such thing as an under floor safe with accredited European certification, with good reason.

Although a very profitable proposition to many suppliers, from a certification and risk assessment standpoint even a good quality under floor safe unit is a problem. The main protection an under floor safe has against attack is the quality of the concrete and reinforcement used in its installation. As there is no way to gauge this before install and judging the merits of the fitting can be difficult at best after fitting, assessing an individual installation is an almost impossible task.

• A final note is that the majority of under floor safes sold in Ireland are very poor quality and offer very little resistance to attack..

4. Is A Certified Key Lock More Secure Than A Certified Digital Lock?

No. It is possible to access a mechanical safe or vault lock by non invasive manipulation and in doing so leave no trace of entry. Therefore by definition a key lock or a mechanical combination lock can not be called secure.

The penalty lockout feature of a certified digital lock shuts the lock down for ten minutes if five or more incorrect codes are entered in a row to deter random code entry attempts. This makes drilling the only option when trying to overcome a digital safe lock without the code.

Since January 2019 An Garda Síochána (Irish Police) recommend against using any kind of mechanical lock on a business or domestic safe.

5. Is A PSA License Required To Sell Safes Or Vaults In Ireland?

No. The profession of locksmith is separate from that of suppliers of certified safes and vaults. In most cases safes and vaults are for commercial use and therefore electronic locking, time locking, anti hold-up and duress would be common features of most specifications.

As the profession of locksmith would primarily deal with mechanical keys and locks it has long since diverged from both the access control sector and the safe and vault sector.

6. What Does "approved by the AIS" Mean?

AIS approved means that the safe in question is listed on the AIS list (UK). This has no relevance as a guide to it quality or certification. A safe bearing this badge should be checked against other factors or considered uncertified..

7. Is An LPCB Plate An Accredited Certification?

No. As of April 2016, BRE Global Limited / LPCB Testing in the U.K. has been awarded accreditation according to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 as a laboratory to test safes and cabinets.

Currently however, LPCB are not accredited to test ATM safes completely as they have no accreditation to perform solid or gas explosives tests. Deposit Systems EN1143-2 are also not within their scope.

A more important point to note is that according to UKAS, currently LPCB are still not accredited as a certification body (ISO/IEC 17065) for issuing certificates according to EN 1143-1, EN1143-2 or EN 14450. (October 2016)

8. What Does "Euro Grade" Mean?

Euro Grade on its own means nothing.

For example: A company may have a grade five safe but that doesn't mean it's certified by an accredited European certification body. This uncertified safe would therefore have no certified overnight insurance cover but there is nothing to stop them calling the unit a "grade five safe" even if the unit has never been tested. Buyer beware.

9. What Does "Banker's Quality or Banker's Grade" Mean?

Nothing.

10. What Does "Recommended Cash Cover" Mean?

This would indicate that there is no insurance rating related to accredited certification unless the rating is from an offical safes rating group of insurers.

11. What Does It Mean If A Safe Has No Certification Plate?

This would indicate that your safe has no accredited certification.

12. What Does It Mean If A Deposit Safe Has The Certification Plate EN1143-1?

Uncertified Deposit Facilities - Letter slots, drum deposits or capsule deposits are all signs of an uncertified safe.

A properly certified deposit safe should always display a certification badge to standard EN1143-2.

A deposit Safes with the cert EN1143-1 would indicate that the safe is a non deposit safe that has been fitted with a deposit facility after purchase. This type of modification is not certified or secure. The following deposit system types are easily recognised as uncertified:

• Pneumatic tube deposit
• Rotary deposit trap
• Envelope deposit
• Capsule deposit
• Retro fitted deposit

13. Are Vacuum Deposit Safes Certified?

No. There has been a lot of misinformation on this subject by various vested interests and many in the safe industry still do not seem to have woken up to this issue so let’s clarify the facts of the matter once and for all.

All certified safes tested to the EN1143-1 standard are tested as they were manufactured and are certified once the test is complete to their proven level of resistance. Once a test certificate has been issued for a particular product only very minor alterations may be permissible such as a lock upgrade or an alarm cable track.

In the case of the pneumatic tube or capsule deposit, because a hole has been cut into the safe (usually around 65mm) the safe certification couldn’t possibly be still valid nor the safe secure as the barrier material has been extensively breached.

It stands to reason that any physical alterations to the unit such as vacuum tube, capsule deposit, or rotary deposit drum all of which involve cutting large apertures into the certified safe body, will of course make the EN1143-1 certification that existed before the alteration void for all purposes.

Of course a 65mm hole also makes removal of capsules child's play with something as simple as a portable vacuum and some rubber tube.

14. Can My Insurance Company Declare My Cover Void After A Robbery?

Yes. Insurance companies insure your safe or vault based on the information you give them. In the event of a robbery a claim can be declared void if is found that this information is incorrect. In our experience if a claim is declared void, or reduced significantly, the fault is nearly always with the information provided to the insurance company by the client or the safe or vault supplier.As the risk in the goods usually passes to the client who purchases the safe or vault, the supplier can't usually be held liable unless they state something which is not true.

To be fair to the insurance industry, it is not their responsibility to ensure you buy from qualified professionals. Always ask for and check vendors qualifications.

15. What Are Accredited Safe And Vault Certifications?

European bodies certifying safes and vaults must have accreditation according to ISO/IEC 17065 to carry out the certification of the specific security products they are certifying. These standards are required for management of impartiality, ensuring non-discriminatory conditions and to verify structural requirements so that results can be relied on.

16. Is The Association Of Insurance Surveyors List Applicable In Ireland?

No. The Association of Insurance Surveyors (U.K.) has for many years produced a list of safes with recommended insurance ratings only displayed in pounds Sterling. The list’s stated intent was to act as an aid to the UK and Irish insurance industry.

In Ireland the list functioned for many years as the most available guide for safes that were manufactured pre-certification (1998) however, the list presents some serious problems in the E.U. when it comes to providing indicative cash ratings for safes since the introduction of European certification for a number of reasons;

•The list has many references to LPCB “certified” safes. To date (October 2016), Loss Prevention Certification Board (UK) have no accreditation to certify safes.

•The A.I.S. U.K. list gives recommended cash rating to safes that by its own admission have never been tested or assessed.

•The A.I.S. U.K. list in many cases lists a U.K. safe supplier as “The Manufacturer”. This of course makes it harder to identify the actual manufacturer of the certified product by name.

•The A.I.S. (UK) list currently makes no distinction between insurance cover recommendations with or without an intruder alarm fitted. This is a very important distinction that is in fact made in the Republic of Ireland and many other European countries.

Since the introduction of ISRG rates fro Ireland in 2016 the AIS should not be used as a guide to insurance cover in the Republic of Ireland.