Are Safes & Vaults Really Necessary??
Are Safes & Vaults Really Necessary Of course they are if you wish to keep your cash, important documents, secret formulas and other sensitive information safe and secure. Although most of the businesses and homes have multiple safes and vaults, they are quite clueless when it comes to the proper selection of them. Consequently, they end up either spending too much of money unnecessarily or inadvertently keep themselves open to theft, burglary and fire damage. So let’s see how to select proper safes and vaults.
Types of safes and vaults Before we move further, first we need to understand the types of safes and vaults available in the market. Burglar safes These safes are specifically designed to provide protection against burglary and theft. As no safe is 100% burglar-proof if the burglar has the proper tools, skills and sufficient time, they are designed to prevent thefts by unskilled thieves and to delay skilled burglars. There are basically two classification of safes: construction ratings and performance ratings. l Construction ratings rank safes according to their construction, i.e., the type of material used and the thickness of the body. Usually safes are rated B, C and B/C. The only problem with this classification process is that there’s no central body to keep check on the ratings; manufacturers can themselves claim the rating based on the process of construction. l Performance ratings rank safes according to the benchmark set by an independent testing laboratory. The benchmark includes criteria such type of burglary tools it can resist and the amount of time it can delay an attack. Document safes and data safes are fire-proof safes that are designed to maintain a set internal temperature. Electronic Safes Locks Electronic safes locks are designed using a programmable electronic circuit and mechanical controls. Compared to traditional mechanical safe lock, electronic safe lock is difficult to break in yet easy to use. These locks can be even be programmed to install
audit trail, time-delay period and multiple combinations to open the lock. Fire safes As the name suggests, fire safes are designed to protect the contents against the damage from fire. Like burglar-proof safes, fireproof safes aren’t 100% effective; they are designed to resist damage from certain type of fire for a certain period of time. Usually they are able to protect the contents until the fire department extinguishes the fire. Fire-proof safes are rated according to the guidelines set by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). The UL guidelines include classification based on the type of assets it’s designed to store, the expected temperature of fire it can stand, and the time period for which it can protect the contents. The UL certified safes are of premium-quality, offering 100% outstanding performance. Although fire-proof safes come with high-security locks, usually they fail to resist burglary. Room-sized fire-proof vaults When businesses have to protect large volume of heat-sensitive materials, it makes more sense to use a modular room-sized vault rather than using multiple fire-proof safes. Usually, these vaults are used by giant corporations, government agencies and off-site storage service firms. How to choose right safes and vaults for home and business? l Type of content: The first and foremost factor to consider is the type of asset you need to protect. If you are looking to protect jewelry, a jewelry safe or electronic safe would work best for you. If you are looking to protect huge volume of sensitive documents, may be you should consider fire-proof vaults. l Purpose of protection: Are you seeking protection against theft or fire? If it’s the former, you should consider burglary-proof safes; likewise for fire, select a fire-proof safe. l Value of assets: Of course trying to safe keep a million dollar necklace in a $500 safe/vault is a foolhardy thing to do. If the assets are expensive, it always pays to go for advanced safes/vaults. Also, advanced safes are costly. l Insurance company parameters: Many times insurers specify the method of protecting the insured assets. In this case, you will need to consult the insurance company to determine if the selected safe and vault falls under their approval. l Regulations: If you are a business and your industry has a set of regulations in place when it comes to safes and vaults, always compare the features of the products with the guidelines. If these guidelines aren’t enough to help you choose the right safe/vault, do not hesitate to contact us. We are more than happy to help you. Our wide collection of safes and vaults includes popular brands such as Social Safe, First Alert, SentrySafe, Phoenix, Biometrx, Fireking Safes, MMF industries, DocuGem, Steel Master and many more.