To purchase the right safe, choices have to be made. The correct names “burglary resistant safe” and “fire resistant safe” are unfortunately too long for daily use and are shortened to safe in general. The product group can be divided further into 3 categories: fire-resistant, burglary-resistant and fire and burglary-resistant.
When it comes to certification, in general we work with two different European standards for tested and certified safes, EN14450 and EN1143-1.
For Home & (small) Office safes the European standard EN14450 has been developed.
For high security safes EN1143-1 is the European standard.
Security (insurance) rating
This indicates the amount of cash and valuables that can be expected to be covered by the insurance underwriters when items are locked in a safe which is secured in an appropriate way.
However, depending on the security measures taken in the location where the safe is installed, insurance underwriters are at liberty to decide on a different level of cover to these indicated here.
The Association of Insurance Surveyors (AiS) approve all safes that meet ECB.S or LPCB certification. Look for the AiS logo to help identify those safes.
EN14450
The standard has been mainly developed for safes to be used in small- and home office situations. Test according this standard are resulting in so called Security Level 1 and 2.
| Classification | Insurance rating | Valuables rating |
| Security Level 1 | £2,000 | £20.000 |
| Security Level 2 | £4,000 | £40,000 |
EN1143-1
This standard has been developed for high security safes. These safes are tested by an independent test institute. Tests at these institutes for burglary resistance are conducted by experienced and qualified testers with relevant knowledge and skills. The results of their attempts to open the safe in combination with time and used tools will be translated into Resistance Units (RU’s). By the number of RU’s the correct grade will be determined.
| Classification | Insurance rating | Valuables rating |
| Grade 0 | £6,000 | £60,000 |
| Grade 1 | £10,000 | £100,000 |
| Grade 2 | £17,500 | £170,500 |
| Grade 3 | £35,000 | £350,000 |
| Grade 4 | £60,000 | £600,000 |
| Grade 5 | £100,000 | £1,000,000 |
| Grade 6 | £150,000 | £1,500,000 |