THE RATINGS SYSTEM FOR CASH SAFES

The Insurance Companies

The rating system insurance companies have developed, is based on testing through independent bodies such as : LPBC and VdS, according to European Standard CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) - EN 1143-1.

When a manufacturer submits one of its safes for testing, the testing company awards a rating based on the build and quality of anti-theft features the safe has. The more sophisticated the features, the higher the rating.

How do you know what you need?

When you, the user, is deciding on which safe you need, your first thought must be. What am I going to use it for?

If you need a safe for jewellery as well as cash storage, you will need to assess the value of the items you will be leaving in the safe. When doing this, it is always better to over-estimate than have inadequate cover.

As a general rule of thumb, jewellery cover equates to ten fold that of cash cover.

i.e: A cash cover of £10,000 would also give cover of £100,000 for jewellery.

If you have a mixture of cash and jewellery, you need to convert the value of the jewellery into a cash figure and then add that to the amount of cash you will be storing for the total amount of cover you need.

e.g: You will keep in the safe £2,000 cash and jewellery valued at £5,000.
£5,000 divided by 10 equals £500 add that to the cash amount, means you need cover for £2,500.
Therefore you require a safe with a minimum cover of £3,000. This will then give you leeway for extra cash storage or increased value of your jewellery.

Understanding a safe's cash rating

The new standardised ratings or bands are the same across Europe and are as follows:-

Euro Grade 0 = £6,000 cash or £60,000 jewellery cover.
Euro Grade 1 = £10,000 cash or £100,000 jewellery cover.
Euro Grade 2 = £17,500 cash or £175,000 jewellery cover.
Euro Grade 3 = £35,000 cash or £350,000 jewellery cover.
Euro Grade 4 = £60,000 cash or £600,000 jewellery cover.
Euro Grade 5 = £100,000 cash or £1,000,000 jewellery cover.
Euro Grade 6 = £150,000 cash or £1,500,000 jewellery cover.

Any safe you see with a Grade 0 - 6 or 0 - VI, is a European Graded safe.

Non-Euro rated safes still offer cover to the level you need, the Euro guide is a standardised reference that is easy to see and understand.

It must be taken into consideration however, all ratings, Euro or Non-Euro, are still a guide and as such are subject to verification by your insurance company.

There are a number of factors the insurers will equate into the final assessment to give the safes insurance cover. These include any previous loss history, the type of business and its locality, are there any tools or cutting equipment on the premises and the level of security the building has, alarms etc.
Indeed a safe installed into a purpose built secured area, such as a Strongroom, would increase its rating.

It should also be remembered, the safe's anchoring capabilities are integral to its rating. Therefore, the safe must be professionally installed and fixed in compliance to the manufacturers recommendation. Failure to do so could hinder any subsequent claim.

As well as the European grades, another type of grading you will see is that of the safes resistance to burglary attack.

Gauged in minutes, the figures are quoted to a partial or full attack.
i.e 30/50 RU (Minimum Resistance Units) which means, Burglary-resistant partial access 30 minutes / full access 50 minutes.