Safe Guide

To find out which product is most suitable for your security requirements you need to answer the following questions:

1. What do you want to protect? Cash, Keys, Laptops, Valuables, Documents or Data Media?
2. What do you want to protect them from? Burglary, Fire or Water? - or all three?
3. What is the volume or size that you want to protect?

Having done this you can either choose from the wide choice of safes for Security at Home and in the Office, Key Storage, Cash & Document Boxes, Laptop Security Cases, safes that offer Data Media Protection, Fireproof safes or Waterproof Safes.

The Burglary Protection category includes safes, cabinets and vaults designed to protect mainly cash and valuables. These are available in differing sizes and specifications with protection for up to £150,000 cash or £1,500,000 in valuables.

The fireproof safes category includes files and Fireproof Filing Cabinets designed to protect against fire. You can either protect Data Media or Documents and in some cases a mixture of both. These products are rated according to their level of Fire protection.

Some safes on our site appear in more than one category. Don't worry, this isn't a mistake, many of the products have more than one main feature; for example some products are fireproof, waterproof and can protect data media!

Another decision you have to make is the type of lock (or locks) that will secure your safe. There are 4 mains types which are Key Lock, Electronic Lock, Combination Lock (sometimes referred to as Mechanical Combination or Dial Locks) and Biometric Lock.

Some safes allow you to upgrade from their standard lock or even have 2 locks. This can mean having two key locks or a combination of a key and electronic lock and usually means that two people must be present to open the safe.

For more information check the Accessories & Related Products section at the bottom of every individual product page.

A Cash Rating is "the amount an insurance company will cover in a safe or cabinet overnight"

The actual amount of cover can vary between insurance companies and locations and may be different to the manufacturer’s recommended rating. If this is important to you, you should check what cover your insurance company will offer.

As a general rule, this rating is multiplied by a factor of 10 for jewellery. Hence, a cash rating of £6,000 will store jewellery in domestic circumstances worth up to £60,000.

This is measured through tests carried out by Independent testing authorities so the longer the period protected in minutes, the greater the fire resistance offered.

The critical temperature before paper or records char or combust is 177°C.

Data Media is damaged at temperatures over 52°C or humidity over 85%.

To provide the appropriate level of protection for products, SafeRunner.co.uk ensures that all Manufacturers have the appropriate testing standard listed against their products. Standards vary according to whether you want to protect Data Media or Documents. This is because the temperature at which Media (e.g. 52 °C) and Documents (e.g. 177 °C) deteriorate differs accordingly.

In order to fully protect Data Media, industry standards indicate that products should carry the ECB•S EN 1047-1 certificate, as a minimum.

The ECB•S test monitors the internal temperature of the data cabinet until it has completely cooled down during the "soak-out" period. Assessing products during this period is essential since internal temperatures can peak up to 6 to 8 hours after a fire has been extinguished.

Such a test ensures that all products are comprehensively tested and upon passing, will fully protect your Media from 30 to 120 minutes. For document protection all products must have an appropriate industry standard 60 minute paper certificate as a minimum.

UL72-Class 350, ECB•S EN 1047-1 or NT-Fire 017 are acceptable standards for paper document protection.

A large number of products on the site can be customised in a number of ways, to try to suit as many needs as possible. Some models can have various different lock types available (e.g. electronic) and others have various fittings including features like pull-out drawers to hold CDs or DVDs. Please note that some of the products on the site are supplied empty and therefore fittings must be ordered separately. For other products some fittings are included but you have the option of ordering more to customise the safe fully. Check the specifications chart for each safe for more information.

Some safes allow even more specialist customisation such as the ability to add a deposit option such as a front facing drawer trap or a deposit chute.

Unlike many of our competitors we have tried to include a product image of as many of the customisation options as possible to try to help you get a safe that is exactly to your liking.