Security cabinets rated to SSF 3492

Security cabinets rated to SSF 3492

What the test actually involves

The rating is a test result, not a description. A cabinet can look solid, have thick steel and feel heavy without being rated at all. What counts is that somebody other than the manufacturer attacked it and measured how long it held.

Testing is carried out by the Swedish Theft Prevention Association, SSF, and certification by SBSC, Svensk Brand- och Säkerhetscertifiering. The cabinet is put through a series of mechanical break-in attempts modelled on real attacks.

SS 3492 and SSF 3492 are the same standard. In 2015 the Swedish standard SS 3492 was replaced by SSF 3492, with identical requirements and test methods. That is stated in Svensk Försäkring's technical recommendation FTR 1028. An older cabinet marked SS 3492 is therefore no weaker than a new one marked SSF 3492, and both markings occur in our range.

The certification plate is normally fitted to the inside of the cabinet door. If you are buying a used cabinet from somebody other than us, that plate is what to look for.

How much may I keep in the cabinet?

Your policy decides, not the standard. Svensk Försäkring's recommendation FTR 1028 sets amount limits by class, but it applies to value safes certified to EN 1143-1. Security cabinets are not in that table. There is no industry-wide figure to lean on for this cabinet type.

The guide figure we work from with Swedish business customers is SEK 40,000. Treat it as roughly what insurers tend to accept, not as a rule. The level can be both higher and lower depending on the perimeter protection of the premises, whether they are alarmed, and what goes in the cabinet. Cash is judged more strictly than documents.

Ask your insurer before you buy if your sum is near a limit, and ask for the answer in writing. If the amounts are higher than your insurer will accept for a security cabinet, the next step up is value safes rated to EN 1143-1, where the amount limits are actually stated per grade.

Keys, computers and other interiors

The shell is the same construction whatever goes inside it. What differs is the interior, and it comes in several forms:

• Key hook rails for property keys and car keys. Some insurers require a rated cabinet for key storage, particularly for car dealers, workshops and rental firms. See security rated key cabinets.
• Charging shelves and ventilation for laptops and tablets, often with a power strip inside the cabinet. See burglary rated computer cabinets, or server cabinets when the equipment has to stay powered up. Check that the cable entries are covered by the rating - a hole in the side of a cabinet is a weak point, and the testing should have been done on the cabinet as delivered.
• Lockable inner compartments when several people share a cabinet but should not reach each other's belongings.
• Deposit slots for dropping items in without opening the cabinet. Note that a slot affects the protection: a cabinet with a slot is not the same thing as one without.
• Suspension file frames for cabinets that have to take case files and personnel folders.

What a particular cabinet is supplied with is listed under Fittings on its product page. If you know what has to go in but not which cabinet suits, call us and we will pull out the alternatives.

Keypad or key lock?

An electronic keypad is chosen in the great majority of cases, and there is a concrete reason. The keys to a security cabinet are long and double-bitted. They are awkward to carry in a pocket, and the result is almost always that the key ends up hung or hidden somewhere near the cabinet.

Burglars know this. Because the key is usually somewhere in the room, the intruder goes through the furniture looking for it. The cost of that damage quickly exceeds what the keypad would have cost.

A keypad also makes access simple when more than one person needs it: the code is changed when somebody leaves, and nobody has to sign a key out.

If you do want a key lock it is available, and it is a good choice when one person handles the cabinet or when it has to fit an existing key system. The locks are often re-settable high security locks with copy-protected keys. If you lose a key you cannot simply order another - the lock has to be re-set. Order a spare key from the start.

Looking after a keypad:

• Batteries last around two years depending on how often the cabinet is opened.
• The lock usually warns you in advance with a beep or an LED, but not always. If the lock stops moving, the battery is nearly always the cause.
• Change the code three to five times a year. The buttons wear, and worn digits give away which ones are in the code.
• Use good quality alkaline batteries, Duracell or Energizer. A cheap cell can show the right voltage unloaded and still collapse when the lock motor draws its current.
• You will not be locked out. On most electronic high security locks the battery is changed from the outside, behind a cover on the keypad. Where the batteries sit inside the cabinet there are external terminals on the front for a 9 V battery to power the lock while you enter the code.

Use the Lock system filter to choose. Pick Battery powered keypad for the cabinets where the lock is included in the price. Pick Battery powered keypad as an option for those where the lock is added when you order, under Accessories further down the product page - the cabinet is then delivered with the lock already fitted.

Does the cabinet have to be bolted down?

We recommend it, and the reason is simple: a cabinet under 150 kg can tip when the door is opened, and a cabinet that can be tipped over can also be carried out. The alternative to bolting is to weight the cabinet up with internal ballast until it reaches 150 kg.

Your insurer may make bolting down a condition. If it is in your policy it is no longer a recommendation but a requirement, and then the fixing has to be right from the start.

The Weight filter shows where each cabinet sits relative to that threshold, and the Prepared for bolt-down filter shows which cabinets are prepared with bolt holes. The holes are in the base, in the back, or both.

We recommend bolting down heavy cabinets too. A cabinet lying on its back is considerably easier to work on than one standing up.

Typical fixings: in a timber structure a coach screw T6S 12 x 120 mm, in concrete an expansion bolt 12 x 142 mm with at least 80 mm embedment. In a plasterboard wall at least one bolt has to reach a stud, since the board itself holds nothing. Always check what your own floor and wall will take.

Placement matters, and not in an obvious way. A right-hung cabinet has its hinges on the right and the handle on the left as you stand in front of it. Put a cabinet like that in the left-hand corner of the room. The wall is then in the way of the crowbar, and anyone trying to lever the door open has no leverage to work with. Left-hung cabinet, right-hand corner.

One mistake we see again and again: drilling into a floor with underfloor heating without first finding out where the pipes or cables run. If you have underfloor heating, wet or electric, get the installation drawing out before the drill comes out. If you cannot find it, anchor to a wall instead, or weight the cabinet up.

Which measurement should I start from?

Start with the depth. Height and width can nearly always be solved, but the depth decides whether the cabinet goes into a recess, a store room or behind a door that still has to open. The Outer Height, Outer Width and Outer Depth filters are above the products.

Measure the route in as well. A security cabinet is solid steel plate and weighs accordingly. Three things are worth checking before you order:

• The floor structure. If the cabinet is going anywhere other than ground level, check with the building owner what the floor is rated for.
• Doorways and lifts. Compare the cabinet's width and depth against the narrowest point on the route, not the widest.
• Stair corners. That is where heavy cabinets get stuck, not in the stairs themselves.

We can carry it in for you. If the cabinet has to go up a staircase, through a narrow door or onto an upper floor, we will arrange it. Carrying-in is quoted separately, since the price depends on weight, floor level and what the route looks like - tell us the conditions and we will price it.

Requirements from authorities

The security cabinet is the type Swedish authorities refer to for the storage of classified documents. That is set out in Svensk Försäkring's technical recommendation FTR 1028, and it is why the requirement keeps turning up in tenders and decisions from government bodies, municipalities and regions.

The wording is usually the class itself rather than a model. If the documentation says SSF 3492 or SS 3492, any of the cabinets here will do, as long as the other requirements on size, lock and anchoring are met.

If a requirement has been written for you, in a policy, a tender or a decision, send it to us. It is far easier to point at the right cabinet when we can see how the requirement is worded than when it is repeated from memory.