Burglary rated S2 safes

Security safes rated S2 to EN 14450

What S2 and EN 14450 mean

EN 14450 is the European standard for safes in the lower security band. It has two levels, S1 and S2, where S2 is the higher. An S2 safe has been tested by an independent institute against forced entry with tools for a set time.

It is not the same as a high-security safe. The standard for those is EN 1143-1 and it tests considerably harder. An S2 safe sits between an ordinary steel cabinet and a proper high-security safe, and it is usually the right level for a home, a surgery or a smaller office.

The Burglary rating filter shows which models carry the rating.

How long should the fire protection last?

Fire protection is measured in minutes, and the minutes are tested: the safe has to hold its contents below a given temperature while the room around it burns. For paper the limit is 170 degrees.

30 minutes is enough where the fire service is close by and what is inside can be reproduced.

60 minutes is the usual choice, and the level most people settle on for a home or an office without sprinklers.

120 minutes is for contents that cannot be replaced at all - original deeds, wills, records that have to survive.

Use the Fire protection filter to see only the level you need.

Fire insulated is not the same as fire rated

Some safes are fire insulated without carrying a tested fire rating. They have insulated walls and give real protection, but that protection has not been measured and certified in minutes.

The difference matters when somebody else has to accept the safe - an insurance policy or an employer's security requirement asks for a rating, not for insulation. If you simply want your own papers to survive a house fire, insulated is often good enough, and cheaper.

Both kinds sit under the Fire protection filter. If you need the tested classification, use Fire rating.

Recommended for the home

The Swedish Theft Prevention Association recommends safes to SS-EN 14450 for keeping valuables at home. It is the level considered reasonable for a dwelling, as opposed to the heavier ratings built for cash handling and commercial vaults.

The SS in front of EN 14450 means the safe is certified in Sweden, by that same association. A safe marked EN 14450 alone has been tested elsewhere in Europe to the same test standard and the same procedure - the difference is who issued the certificate, not how hard the safe was tested.

Insurance: at home and at the company

If you are a private individual, your home contents insurance applies. It does not require valuables to be kept in a rated safe - what gets paid out is governed by your policy, not by the safe. You buy the safe to avoid the loss in the first place, not to be paid more afterwards. That is also where the recommendation above belongs.

The rest of this section is about companies. Requirements for a storage rating appear in commercial policies, where you meet wording along the lines of "a secure storage unit of at least class X".

Do not expect an S2 safe to raise the sum a commercial policy will cover. S2 does not appear among the recommendations issued by Svensk Försäkring, the Swedish insurers' association. Where a policy does set a storage requirement, it points at the heavier ratings: security cabinets to SSF 3492 or high-security safes to EN 1143-1.

That does not make an S2 safe wrong for a business. It protects against the burglary that actually happens - somebody inside for a short while, taking what is lying about - and it protects against fire as well, which the security cabinets do not. But it is protection you buy for your own sake, not a safe the insurer asked for.

If you need to keep cash or documents of value and want the insurance to follow, read the policy first and then call us with it in front of you. We would rather sell you the right safe than an extra one.

Bolt it down

It makes no difference how hard a safe is to force if it can be carried out of the building and opened somewhere quiet. Most of the safes here are prepared for bolting to the floor or the wall, and anchoring is a condition in most insurance policies.

The Prepared for bolt-down filter shows which ones are. A bolted-down safe at home is also one of the more sensible answers now that bank deposit boxes are disappearing.

Key or code lock?

A key lock is the simplest and least expensive, and there is no code to forget. The key has to live somewhere, though, and keys get lost.

An electronic code lock removes the key. You can change the code yourself, and several people can have access without anyone copying anything. Batteries are replaced every few years.

The Lock system filter shows what each safe has.

Will it fit?

Measure before you order, and think about the door into the room as much as the spot the safe will stand in. Outer height in mm and Outer width in mm are there for that.

Bear in mind that fire insulation takes up room. A safe with 120 minutes of fire protection has thicker walls than one without, so internal space and external dimensions do not track each other the way you would expect.