Types of Safes

There are many types of safes designed for specific purposes, some of these are:

1. Home safes, as the name suggests, are designed and manufactured for the domestic market. These safes are usually smaller in size and tend to be priced at the lower end of the scale. The main draw back is certainly the quality and this is reflected in the price. These safes are available from hardware stores, supermarkets and even service stations, however often they have little or no cash rating or fire rating. The home safes we sell usually have a maximum cash rating of approximately $10,000.

2. Wall safes are very popular in the movies and there is a small market for them however they tend to be unpopular due to their low cash rating ($5,000-$8,000). The wall safe must be small enough to be hidden behind a picture etc and hence are constructed with this in mind. Wall safes are secured in place by bolting them into the studs inside a wall. Most houses built today use pine studs. This makes it very easy to tear the wall safe out.

3. In ground floor safes offer good value and security because safe manufacturers can make the body (five sides) out of a lesser grade material and then beef up the head or lid of the floor safe. A professionally fitted floor safe can be almost impossible to find as well as offer some fire protection. Inground floor safes come in all sizes and qualities ( I even had one custom made that was almost a meter deep) from cheapies to the top end Floor safes which have cash ratings of around $50,000.

4.Commecial safes, or commerce safes come in different sizes and ratings and are designed to protect cash and valuables from burglary. They may also provide holdup and fire protection. These safes are general larger heavier and more robust than home safes and are sometimes fitted with “Options “ such as a posting slot, time delay lock or treasury cabinet. They have cash ratings usually between $10,000-$50,000.

5. Depository safes, which are designed for temporary storage of cash and allow deposits into the safe by way of deposit drawer or posting slot from the exterior but require two persons to open and remove the contents, for example - a security guard and management. Armoured car and cash collection companies have been using this system very effectively for many years. Although seen mainly in the fast food industry these safes are becoming more popular with business’s that deal in cash and are concerned about the threat of armed hold up.

6. Cash dispensing safes, which are designed to dispense cash to checkout clerks, keep track of these types of transactions and limit access to the contents to management or Armed Guard services.

7. Jewellers safes are designed for maximum protection of high value items against burglary and or fire. Their cash rating usually start from $60,000. Acronym’s such as TDR (torch and drill resistant ) or ABP (anti blowpipe) are used to describe features to make life hard for the determined safe cracker.

8. ATM safes are similar to the cash handlers and operate for withdrawals by the public. ATM’s are common at banks and supermarkets and sometimes located in other public places. I have seen quite a few ex ATM safes filter through the second hand market and unfortunately their cash rating is dramatically reduced without all the sophisticated electronics that they have when they are connected to a financial institution.

9. Bankers Safes are in a league of their own. At the peak of the ‘cash society’ around the 1980’s they were retailing for around about $28,000 (Chubb “ Isolator”). With the emergence of EFTPOS and the closing of many branches the banks found themselves with an abundance of these safes and many found their way into the second hand market. The down side is they usually weigh around 1400kg there is not much demand for them. Today’s Bankers Quality safes are made from new high tech materials that are stronger and lighter than their counterparts of yesteryear.

10. Night Deposit Safes Most banks used to have one, although now they are almost a thing of the past and are only available by special order.

11. Fire or record protection safes are designed to protect valuable business and personal paper records against fire. These safes are purpose built and Chubb Safes lead the field. Each RP cabinet has a testing label fixed showing which agency did the test and the type of test the cabinet has passed. A typical test is to heat the cabinet in a furnace for a specified period then drop the safe to simulate a floor collapsing and then reheat it again. Many manufacturers perform their own tests, though these can never be called ‘independent’.

12. Data Safes are similar to fire safes but are used to protect Micrographic media such as tapes or CD’s. They must, in the event of a fire, maintain a much lower internal temperature than a fire safe (less than 52º Celsius - the point at which data media is destroyed) and also protect against other hazards such as high humidity, electro magnetic contamination, etc. Test ratings are applied in a similar way to those for fire safes however for a data safe, much more demanding test criteria are applied.

13. Record Protection Filing Cabinets are subject to the same rigorous testing as fire safes but are designed with the convenience of drawers. These come in 3 qualities ( 1 hour, 2 hour or combo) and are configured with 1, 2,3, or 4 drawers.

14. Media insert boxes and Fire chests are designed to protect micrographic media (Tapes, CDs, DVDs, hard drives etc) from fire. They are either inserted inside an appropriately rated fire safe or cabinet. Both these boxes are small when compared to a data safe. This is an economical way to protect both paper and micrographic records.

15. Gun safes are designed to protect firearms against theft and sometimes also include a fire resistant lining to provide limited protection against the threat of fire. Queensland has very specific laws relating to the storage of firearms. Gun safes must be built to equal or exceed these specifications

16. Government Spec safes and approved fire file cabinets are called class security containers. These are designed to protect sensitive or classified documents and materials from fire and limit access to authorized personnel. The Australian Commonwealth Government has set very strict rules for the construction and use of such safes. These safes are only available as second hand units and are only available after their ‘Government Specified’ equipment has been removed.

17. Key control safes or cabinets are designed for the storage of a large quantity of keys. Larger institutions that require the distribution and tracking of keys would typically install these. They range in size from 40-hook capacity up to 1000 or can be custom made to specific requirements.

18. Drug Cabinets (Dangerous goods safe) are for the safe storage of dangerous drugs or chemicals, as set out in the Queensland Health Act, which even specifies what lock etc, a drug cabinet must have as well as other minimum standards. Drug cabinets come in a variety of sizes however the
basic design is fairly constant. View a PDF of the relevant section of the QLD Health Act (pdf: 703kb).

19. Strong room doors & book room doors or vaults used to be the way large institutions protected valuables and records from theft or fire. These were commonplace with just about every bank that had a purpose built room. They are still available by special order however Inst-A-Vaults are now more popular as you can take the portable strong room with you when you vacate a building.

20. Cigarette cabinets or dispensers are custom made for a business where large volumes of tobacco products are sold. They are generally built to withstand a typical attempted break and enter where the criminal has a minimum of time against him (ie there is also back up monitored alarm.)