Even though you may have protected your premises like so many others, there is a significant increase in the number of burglaries and fire. You may believe that it ‘will never happen to me’ but the sad fact is that a multi-billion pound market exists for insurance,because it happens to everyone and will one day also happen to you. You may already be covered for most types of losses but the items or documents ‘lost’ cannot often be replaced and insurance is, therefore, incomplete protection.
To store and protect your valuables and important documents at home, installing safes is a wise option. Most homes have a simple locking cabinet that protects these valuables from prying eyes, but do little to protect them from theft or damage from fire.
There are two basic types of security safes available, burglary resistant safes and fire resistant safes. Burglary resistant safes are subjected to picks, blow torches, and drilling machines to test their theft resistance. Fire resistant safes are tested in a furnace for half an hour or more to see how the contents fare. Safes that pass this test can maintain an interior temperature of less than 350 degrees Fahrenheit. These models will protect paper documents from 1700 degrees Fahrenheit heat for up to four hours.
Some safes are also tested to see how they will fare if they are dropped. In a fire, a safe may fall through the floor, break open, and spill the contents you wish to protect. Some safes can survive a 30-foot impact, which is approximately a fall of three storeys.
Media safes are especially designed to protect disks and other audio/visual equipment such as video and cassettes from fire. These materials have special requirements because they are more fragile than paper documents. Diskettes, for example, can be ruined at temperatures far below the 350º F maximum specified for papers. Diskettes also require humidity below a certain level.
These home safes are available in various shapes, models and sizes. A larger safe does not necessarily insure greater security because although a burglar cannot remove it easily; in case of a fire neither can you.
For the greatest level of security, safes are installed into the wall or the floor. If placed in concrete, the safes are not only highly burglar resistant but are also beyond the reach of most fires. Installation in these cases can be quite costly, often exceeding £300. A less expensive solution is to bolt a safe to the floor. However, this does not provide any extra protection from fire.
Most low-end safes come with old-fashioned combination locks or a key lock. These are not particularly effective against an experienced burglar. For those requiring greater security, there are safes with electronic and digital locks. Some are X-ray and manipulation-proof, making the codes nearly impossible to crack. Some others can be accessed only by swiping a credit card. One can even attach an electronic control device that regulates the times when a safe can be opened.
Recently the costs of home safes have reduced significantly and have, therefore, become affordable for all households. They are a very wise investment as their cost is negligible in comparison to the value of your possessions they protect.