Safe And Vault Advice
Qualified Expert Advice
Alan Donohoe Redd is an official NSAI expert member of the European CEN263 Working Group responsible for writing European Standards for safes, strong rooms, secure cabinets and physical data protection for the European Union as well as managing director and head of high value asset protection and standards with Certified Safes Ireland™.
In an ideal world you should be able to tell a safe supplier your requirements, have them recommend a safe that has a level of European certified burglary and fire resistance suitable for your needs, and then have the supplier confidentially deliver and install your safe to European standards. The result, a properly certified safe that will protect your interests for many years to come. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. Ireland's unregulated safe supply market is one that is dominated by misrepresentation with several suppliers who have been convicted of fraud still working in the industry. Most of the individuals and companies with such criminal convictions can boast of many years of experience. It just isn't the kind of experience that benefits others.
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 and encompassing installation of safes, strong rooms, physical data protection, CCTV, alarms, access control, secure storage control systems and Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) specification, design and installation.
Alan has worked with major organisations within banking, law enforcement, defence and health care in Ireland, UK, Europe, U.S. and the Middle East, designing systems for the protection of data, documents, weaponry, cash, art, gold bullion, pharmaceuticals and precious metals used in technology.
Alan’s expertise has been relied upon by;
N.A.T.O. Europe, The U.S. Air Force (Europe), PayPal (Worldwide), Grant Thornton, The Department Of Communications, The Revenue Commissioners, The Danish Defence Forces (Afghanistan), 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, Druids Glen, The Shelbourne and many others
Background In Relation To Safes And Vaults
Prior to 2016, Alan worked as a secure storage, certified locking, and CCTV consultant with a number of businesses and was an official distributor and trainer for Sargent & Greenleaf, a US/Swiss safe lock manufacturer. During that time Alan provided consultation on secure storage and access control to the US Airforce in Europe, supplied certified EMP resistant digital locking systems to NATO forces in Afghanistan and consulted on security systems for gold bullion and safe deposit facilities in the Isle of Man and UK. Alan is Ireland's first and most long-standing member of the European Security Systems Association (ESSA) having joined in May 2012.
As part of the working group for the Private Security Authority Locksmith License in 2013, Alan became aware of a deficit in understanding, knowledge and willingness among safe suppliers to engage with European standards and best practice. It was this experience more than any other that led to the creation of a portal for the supply of safes, data safes and strongrooms that had properly accredited certification for burglary resistance, culminating in the eventual launch of Certified Safes Ireland™ in May 2017.
Work In Relation To European Standards
2016
May
Convened the inaugural meeting of the Irish Safe Ratings Group which included representatives of the Irish insurance industry, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, the Private Security Authority, SAVTA and NATO contractors. For more information see: www.isrg.ie
June
Asked by Dr Ian Cowan to act as a National Standards Authority of Ireland expert on safes, strongrooms, physical data protection and related locking systems to the European CEN263 committee standards working groups 1,2 and 3.
2017
May
Launched Certified Safes Ireland™ as Ireland’s first safe supplier dedicated exclusively to supplying safes, locking systems and strongrooms certified to European standards.
October
As part of the Insurance Institute of Ireland Winter CPD Schedule, delivered a series of lectures on "European Safe Ratings And Risk Assessment" for the Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Sligo Institutes.
2018
January
Following meetings and correspondence in relation to European standards for safes, An Garda Síochána (Irish Police) publish revised crime prevention information sheet titled “Secure Safes And Standards” highlighting European standards their relationship to ISRG rates.
March
Was successful in having the Association of Insurance Surveyors Ltd (UK) remove the claim that their AIS Safe Rating List denominated in pounds Sterling, which listed safes known to contain asbestos was suitable for the Republic of Ireland.
September
Received award from Sargent & Greenleaf for the development of a GDPR compliant audit tracking solution for physical documents.
2019
July
Article on asbestos in safes makes cover of Law Society Gazette.
October
Research on the subject of asbestos in pre-certification safes results in a Legislation & Enforcement Notice entitled “Asbestos Risks In Safes And Fire-Resistant Cabinets” being issued by the Health And Safety Authority of Ireland.
November
Investigation into the issue of asbestos in safes still on sale in Ireland and the UK was added to the agenda of the European Security Systems Association AGM held in the VDMA building in Frankfurt.
2021
March
An open letter to the British Standards Institution (BSI) results in acknowledgement for the first time of asbestos presence in pre-1999 safes that should have been mentioned in the British Standard BSI 7582 “Code of practice for reconditioning of used safes”.
June
The Press Ombudsman officially upheld complaint regarding the Irish Times coverage of Merrion Vaults on Monday 14th of June 2021 on the grounds of "Truth and Accuracy" forcing the Times to print a retraction of false claims related to crime statistics and Lloyds of London involvement in the security at Merrion Vaults, a safe deposit business in Dublin.
August
Proposal for amendment to European standard EN14450 “secure safe cabinets” resulted in positive vote of 96.94% vote in favour Europe wide. The word “Safe” had been used dishonest suppliers to describe a “Secure Safe Cabinet” a completely separate standard with a far lower level of burglary resistance. The vote in favour, removed the word “safe” from the title of the standard and provided official recognition at a European level that describing such units as safes was misleading to European consumers.
December
Article: “A Four Point European Standards Checklist For Home Safes” featured in Irish Broker Magazine, Christmas edition.
Published Articles:
Certified Safes Ireland™ is a trading name of Implemented Certified Security Ltd™ (ICS) one of the most professional and respected safe suppliers and installers in Europe. Implemented Certified Security Ltd™ (ICS) is a longstanding member of The European Security Systems Association and part of the ICS Group of companies.