Sometimes it can be difficult to disentangle the different types of safes available on the market. However, although at first sight many of them look similar, in reality they can be distinguished into 3 macro-categories:
Professional safes, for example, are accompanied by the European certification UNI EN 1143 – 1. These are heavy models (more than 100 kg), to be built into furniture and/or the floor, and in some cases are also fireproof. Because of their resistance to burglary, they are perfectly suited to environments such as banks, jewellery stores and professional offices as well as certain types of agencies where particularly valuable goods need to be stored, and their cost is generally several thousand euros.
There are also home security containers or safes for private use. These models, often accompanied by the EN 14450certification, in force since 2005, are classified in security levels S1 (basic resistance) and S2 (superior resistance), by means of strict tests carried out using the main burglary tools (crowbars, hammers, levers, drills). However, it is important to emphasise that safes in this category do not necessarily have a certification, but have technical and structural characteristics, with regard to the mechanism and the quality of the materials used and the internal components, which offer a good degree of security. This type of safe, which is generally wall-mounted and costs several hundred euros, is therefore ideal for home and office use.
(for illustrative purposes only)
Finally, there are common metal boxes (sometimes also incorrectly called ‘safes’) available on the market, which do not follow any regulations or standards, have no certification, but above all are made on the basis of criteria aimed not at maximising resistance, but at minimising cost. These are mostly imported boxes with a retail price generally not exceeding a hundred euros. Most of them are mobile, and therefore need to be secured with plugs.
As can be seen in numerous videos on the Internet, these boxes have a very modest resistance to burglary.
The following webpage is dedicated to Viro’s range of security safes for home, private and hotel use.
Are you interested in knowing the weak points of the metal boxes? In the next blog we will show two examples of attempted break-ins involving them.
[Principal safe illustration Designed by Freepik]