Safes & Strongrooms For Business & Government

Certified Safes Ireland™ Provide Cost Effective, Certified Secure Storage Solutions For Cash, Data, Precious Metals, Pharmaceuticals And Weapons To Accredited European And NATO Standards.

Certified Safes Ireland™ offer scalable secure storage solutions from certified safes, deposit safes, data safes to strongrooms and data rooms to suit the most demanding requirements and environments. Our specification, design and installation team have the experience, training and depth of knowledge of European, NATO, manufacturing, medical and data centre standards to address all client requirements in a manner that can facilitate most operational challenges, physical restrictions or aesthetic considerations. Certified Safes Ireland™ have been the choice of small and large business, corporations and government entities both in Ireland and worldwide in providing innovative, quality-driven security solutions to protect important assets. We are part of the ICS Group, a group of NATO contractors fully licensed in Ireland for all electrical, intruder alarm, CCTV, access control, fire suppression, fine art protection and monitoring activities. A longstanding member of the European Security Systems Association, Certified Safes Ireland™ has vast experience that encompasses 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.

Our expertise has been relied on by:

N.A.T.O. Europe, The U.S. Air Force (Europe), PayPal (Worldwide), Grant Thornton, The Department Of Communications (Cyber Security) (Ireland), The Revenue Commissioners, Electricity Supply Board (Cyber Security) (Ireland), 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 ....

European Law

EU Parliament regulation 765/2008 created the system that provides the legal basis of accreditation for the certification of safes for both fire and burglary resistance to European standards. This system is backed by regular auditing and market surveillance and is verifiable, proof of standard for litigation purposes. If you consider that 70% of safes tested for burglary resistance by accredited European testing labs fail on the first attempt the implications of accepting unaccredited claims of burglary or fire resistance are obvious.

A safe with properly accredited European certification 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. An accredited certification plate for a safe will display the logo of an accredited certification body, burglary or fire resistance grade, and most importantly confirmation that the certification body is accredited to ISO/IEC 17065. This is legal assurance that the certifier is accredited under European law. The same information will be available on accredited certification documents which are freely available and should always be asked for.

Important Note:

If a safe is certified for both burglary and fire resistance this will be indicated on two separate plates. 

Burglary Resistance For Safes EN1143-1

Below are logos of the four certification bodies with European accreditation to certify safes for burglary resistance that you are likely to encounter on a genuine certification plate in Ireland.

 Accredited Fire Resistance Certification EN15659, EN1047-1

In the current market the majority of safes and cabinets that safe suppliers claim have an accredited certification of fire resistance have no such certification whatsoever. Often this is a side-effect of an ignorance of fire resistance standards for safes but as is the case with burglary resistance certification, technically there is nothing illegal about stating that a particular safe has a certain fire resistance as it may simply be a statement of opinion, so it is of primary importance that when it is claimed that a safe has fire resistance, we always ask, has the fire resistance claim been tested and certified, and if so, certified by who?

Below are logos of the two certification bodies with European accreditation to certify safes for fire resistance that you are likely to encounter on a genuine certification plate in Ireland.

The Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) (UK) The Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) (UK) is a mark commonly encountered in the Irish market. LPCB has issued "certification" plates for safes (European standard EN1143-1) and secure cabinets (European standard EN14450) for many years, despite the fact the body has never been an accredited certification body for the burglary resistance of safes, not even in the UK, according to the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). LPCB "certification" plates are in a similar format to properly accredited European certification, however, an ISO/IEC17065 accreditation which will be present on most accredited certification plates will be absent from an LPCB plate. The fact that LPCB claim to certify their own tests runs counter to any norms in Europe where both the tester and the certifier are legally required to be independent bodies. LPCB certification claims should not be confused with properly accredited European certification, which has a basis in European law as proof of standard, and on which all safe ratings in Europe are based.

Nordtest NT FIRE 017 The most common unaccreited mark you will come across in the Irish market is without doubt the NT FIRE 017 mark. NT FIRE 017 is a conformity assessment of Nordtest originally founded in 1973 under the Nordic Council of Ministers. This is NOT a European standard. NT017 may be applied to safes and cabinets of identical construction to a tested unit, provided that the external volume of the untested units are not less than half of, and not more than twice the volume of the tested unit. This means in a series of five sizes it is usually only necessary that one unit is tested, leaving the majority of cabinets and safes marked NT017 in such a series not tested. Additionally internal heat during the NT017 test is measured by thermocouples (sensors used to measure temperature ) placed at the centre of internal panels rather than at the corners as is the case with European and US testing. This placement of thermocouples will of course produce a more favourable result as panels will heat from edges to the centre during a fire. Additionally, NT017 does not include a drop test to simulate structural collapse of the kind that would likely happen in an intense fire.

Professional Commercial Delivery

Certified Safes Ireland™ personnel are fully insured and trained experts in the delivery, installation, removal and transportation of safes and strongrooms. Delivery and positioning to any floor using specialist equipment is usually possible. All sites are surveyed prior to quotation. A Risk Assessment Method Statement (RAMS) is available for all sites on request. Certified Safes Ireland™ and our contractors have specific insurance for the delivery and installation of safes and strongrooms. A copy of this is insurance is also available on request.

50kN Minimum Anchoring For All Safes

Certification is often void for a safe not anchored correctly and there are many examples most insurers will be familiar with of a “safe” being removed from a premises because it was not anchored correctly if at all. It is a certification requirement under EN1143-1 that a safe is anchored however the EN1143-1 standard does not yet specify how this is to be achieved which often results in bare minimum, highly unsafe installations. Certified Safes Ireland™ have always used anchoring methods designed to replicate standards used in EN1143-1 accredited laboratory testing as the best guide to making the unauthorised physical removal of our safes virtually impossible. This is done in a manner designed to achieve at least a holding force of 50kN (5.089 tons) for a safe up to grade III and 100kN (11.24 tons) over that grade. Holding forces that as you can imagine, rule out removing a safe without truly industrial levels of force.

Choose A Safe Or Strongroom Prepared For Alarm

Before we look at popular alarm integration options, we need to take a quick look at a common issue that can compromise security whatever type of alarm integration is being considered, and that is external wiring, an unacceptable security risk when monitoring a certified safe or strongroom. Most quality European certified safes and strongrooms come prepared for alarm integration wiring with mounting points for seismic sensors and factory made alarm cable channels or routes, as well as door loop mounts on the inside of the safe or strongroom, all accessible via factory installed ports. Purchasing a safe or strongroom without this kind of basic preparation should not be entertained as it is very difficult, expensive and often impractical to integrate alarm monitoring with secure storage later on. Unfortunately, it is also demonstrably evident that the majority of alarm installers and “safe technicians” do not know how to do this work correctly, as shown in the photos below:

Wiring Should Be Invisible

This photo is of a Chubb Europa, a model of safe that comes prepared with an internal alarm cable route and seismic sensor mounting plates, yet despite this, a well-known safe technician drilled both the barrier material at the side of the safe and more worryingly the barrier material on the door of the safe close to the safe lock in order to run cabling to the safe lock. External wiring like this not only damages the barrier material of a safe, severely compromising security as well as the safe's certification for burglary resistance, but it advertises the presence of alarm integration and the possible presence of duress signalling to criminals. Being advised of this in advance, the probability criminals will employ tactics such as Tiger kidnapping for high value targets, rather than a straight forward burglary, are a lot more likely.

Correct Wiring (Internal)

In the example shown below, a deposit safe for commercial use, we can clearly see there is never a need for an external door loop or any other indication that alarm signalling devices (seismic sensors, alarm modules) may be present. With such devices located inside the safe they are also protected from view, tampering and possible circumvention. 

Duress (Silent Alarm)

Most certified digital locks can be monitored via an alarm system via a certified and compatible alarm module. With an alarm module in place if you or staff are put under any type of duress the addition of a digit to the normal access code for your safe or strongroom will trigger a silent panic alarm. This is a very powerful tool if you are in a position where you may be held-up.

Seismic Sensors

In the context of a safe or strongroom, a seismic sensor is a small high security alarm signalling device that monitors vibration and temperature, specifically configured to detect prising attacks, drill attacks, cutting discs as well as hydraulic and thermal tools. When using seismic sensors on a safe or strongroom, it is important to understand that these devices should be configured by an alarm installer to always be on, even if the alarm is switched off. Seismic sensors will not be triggered by normal safe use. At Certified Safes Ireland™ we recommend the installation of two EN50131 compatible seismic sensors on safes as An Garda Síochána (Irish Police) alarm response guidelines require two verified intruder alarm sensor activations to trigger an alarm response. Having two sensors located inside a safe should therefore ensure you get response to an attempted burglary, even if the local alarm system is switched off.

Seismic Sensor Installation

A seismic sensor should always be mounted with screws (not glue) to a seismic sensor mounting plate of the type provided inside a quality EN1143-1 European certified safe or strongroom. Internal seismic sensor mounting plates are kept free of paint during the manufacturing process and usually have a circular mounting profile. These plates are specifically designed to conduct vibration to optimise the detection of rotary cutting tools. 

Below is a photo from our warehouse of a VdS certified seismic sensor (bottom) and duress module (top) installed inside a safe. Note the black circle free of paint behind the seismic sensor and that both components are certified by accredited certification body VdS.

Why We Do Not Recommend Wireless Sensors For Safe & Strongroom Monitoring

The vast majority of alarm components installed in Ireland and the UK today are wireless and the reason for this is obvious. Although wireless components are generally more expensive than wired, installing a wireless alarm system is a lot less labour intensive with installation time for the average home taking a few hours rather than a few days. Wireless components do however have serious drawbacks that make them particularly unsuitable for safe or strongroom monitoring. The first most obvious problem is that alarm monitoring components and wiring for a safe should be kept inside a safe or strongroom to avoid tampering or circumvention but due to the nature of wireless devices the signal from a wireless component will not penetrate the body of a safe or a properly constructed strongroom. If batteries run low, the responsiveness of wireless devices can decrease as can signal strength due to a variety of environmental reasons. As hard wired systems provide the highest level of reliability, safe or strongroom monitoring should always be hard wired even if all other sensors in an intruder alarm system are wireless.

The Danger Of Uncertified Alarm Components

All components used in a monitored alarm system in Ireland are required to be compliant with the European alarm standard EN50131. This is to ensure the integrity and security of an intruder alarm installation, most specifically to ensure that alarm activations can be relied on by monitoring stations and police. It is illegal in the Republic of Ireland for an unlicensed business to install a monitored intruder alarm system, however, this has not stopped some UK businesses fitting alarm signalling devices to safes or strongrooms sometimes built into uncertified safe locks and connecting these devices to licensed alarm systems or even monitoring such devices through unlicensed monitoring centres in the UK. 

An illegal intruder alarm system not only leaves the installer and monitoring company open to prosecution, but also leaves the client of such providers open to penalties. In order to guarantee Garda Síochána (Irish Police) response to activation of an alarm, it must have a Unique Reference Number (URN) issued by the Gardaí. These numbers are only issued where the alarm system: 

• Complies with European standard EN50131. 
• Has been installed by a PSA licensed installer. 
• Is monitored by a PSA licensed monitoring company.

Recent Example Of An Uncertified Alarm And Locking Device Being Sold

Click on the image below to view letter from ESSA (European Security Systems Association based in Frankfurt) regarding one such uncertified safe lock and alarm signalling device from the UK called Pro-Sync which was recommended by many insurers to their clients. Pro-Sync was withdrawn from the Irish market in 2020 when Certified Safes Ireland™ highlighted the fact it was uncertified as a safe lock (EN1300) and an alarm signalling device (EN50131).

 A Digital Lock Is The starting Point For All Electronic Integration

The starting point for EN50131 compliant alarm integration of a certified safe is of course a certified digital lock. Most certified digital safe locks from class "B" upwards come with a range of basic features which will include alarm module compatibility. Listed below are a range of features, some found as standard in a digital lock and some optional extras that can be achieved with various lock and alarm integration combinations. All options listed are certified compliant with the EN1300 safe lock standard and the EN50131 alarm standard.

We Understand The Need For Confidentiality

As Government and NATO contractors Certified Safes Ireland™ understand the need for confidentiality and will always respect yours. We guarantee the confidentiality of all of our clients. Any photos taken for survey purposes have location data removed and are erased directly after use unless directed otherwise by the client. All booking records and client information pertaining to completed work is anonymised across all of our systems at the end of each month in compliance with the G.D.P.R.

 For Advice Call: +353 1 7076011

Certified Safes Ireland™ director Alan Donohoe Redd is a member of the European CEN263 Working Group responsible for writing European Standards for safes, strongrooms (vaults), secure cabinets and physical data protection for the European Union. 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, strongrooms, physical data protection, CCTV, alarms, access control, secure storage control systems and Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) specification, design, and installation.

Alan is an expert on standards and fraud issues related to secure storage in Europe and the UK, 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, including some published by the Irish Times, and has been pivotal in having misleading standards and practises recognised and withdrawn in Ireland, the UK and at a European level.

Alan's expertise has been relied on by:

N.A.T.O. Europe, The U.S. Air Force (Europe), PayPal (Worldwide), Grant Thornton, The Department Of Communications (NCSC Cyber Security) (Ireland), The Revenue Commissioners, Electricity Supply Board (Cyber Security) (Ireland), 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, Boodles, Druids Glen, The Shelbourne Hotel, and many others ....

Alan's seminars on safes, strongrooms and HNW 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).

 Most Locksmiths Know Very Little About Safes

Contrary to what many people may believe the profession of "Locksmith" has long been recognised as one almost completely separate from the supply and installation of safes and strongrooms in the E.U. With most insurers and An Garda Síochána (Irish Police) advising against the use of mechanical locks on safes due to the ease of opening via non-invasive manipulation, the last connection between these two professions is quickly disappearing. There are exceptions to every rule, and a locksmith may have the necessary knowledge to correctly specify, survey for, and anchor a certified safe, however, most locksmiths have very little knowledge in relation to European standards for safes and The Private Security Authority (PSA) does not require any qualifications to issue a locksmith license.

 Pitfalls & Scams In The Safe Supply Industry

Ireland and the UK are notorious black spots for fraud and misrepresentation in the safe supply sector. Well-known safe suppliers being penalised for tax evasion and having served time in jail are just some indications of a wide range of malpractice and illegal activity throughout the safe supply industry. We strongly encourage due diligence before engaging a safe supplier or having someone survey your home or business, irrespective of who recommends them.