Top tips for choosing the right safe for your home

Many banks are no longer holding jewellery in safe deposit boxes. With criminals aware of this, it is very important to ensure your valuables are kept in a secure quality safe at home.

Every criminal knows of the obvious hiding places and they are even deploying the use of metal detectors to find items within higher value homes. According to research the sock drawer is the top hiding place, so the first place a burglar will look. The top of wardrobes, under beds, inside bedside tables and the back of kitchen drawers are other popular hiding places.

Quality safes are sold with ratings set by European Safe Standards.

Look out for the Euro Standard EN 1143-1 benchmark as recognised by the Association of Insurance Surveyors. A purple ‘AiS approved’ logo is a clear sign of quality.

The lowest security rating is a Grade 0 – for storing up to £10,000 cash and valuables, such as jewellery, worth up to £100,000. The top rating is a Grade 6, deemed secure enough to store £150,000 in cash or £1.5million worth of jewellery/watches.

The two most popular locking systems are key or electronic locks. The problem with key locks is the risk of the key getting lost or copied. While electronic locks require combinations to be remembered, a professional installer will be able to provide a back-up if you forget codes.

If looking for protection of important documents or digital media, it might be worth making sure they can survive a fire. Industry standards include the Swedish NT-Fire and US Underwriters Laboratories (UL) fire resistant tests.

For insurance as well as personal security reasons, it is worth paying a qualified locksmith to install a safe – bolting it to solid floors and walls. If you do not bolt down a safe you might as well store treasures in a shoebox.

As a rule, a safe should not immediately catch one’s attention. Wall safes and furniture safes are especially inconspicuous and can be integrated into a pre-existing wall, wardrobe or desk. A safe should not be exposed to high levels of humidity or direct sunshine because both of these extremes could cause damage to materials.

For a no obligation insurance quotation or advice on purchasing a safe please contact Horner Blakey Insurance Brokers on 020 7929 0108.