How Do I Choose The Right Safe For My Needs?

Whether a safe is needed for a domestic home or a commercial business, it can be a significant investment and is definitely an important feature of your security system. When you choose which safe to opt for of course you want it to be fit-for-purpose, and you also want to avoid having to compromise your security and maybe even having to invest in a different safe at a later stage because you chose the wrong one.

There are a lot of good quality safes out there and they all have features which suit different needs. So this guide is designed to categorise these needs and help you decide on the key features you require in your security safe.

Value

For most people this will be the key priority in a safe design, ie. what value of possessions can it effectively keep safe? This might not simply be cash, but also other valuables such as jewellery and gadgets. A good quality safe will come with an insurance rating, which is the value of goods an insurance company would cover you for if you opted for this particular safe. So you need to assess and quantify what value of items you intend to store in the safe, allowing also for items you might add in the future. You should also check with your insurance company that they are happy with the safe you intend to purchase.

What level of protection?

In simple terms a safe can protect items that have financial value, and it can protect items that have personal, business or legal value. A safe that is needed to protect cash and financially valuable items needs to be strong and robust, have a good locking system and have sufficient insurance rating. While a safe that is needed for keeping family heirlooms or precious photos, legal documents such as a will, or for important company documents such as contracts, product specifications or digital information on USB drives, doesn’t necessarily need to have the same features. These items have no financial value to an opportunist thief, but they have value to you, so you definitely want to keep them safe, and in a business you may need to retain some internal security between hierarchies. So this type of safe maybe needs to have fireproof properties ahead of security properties? Of course, you can have a safe that combines both these needs also.

Safe Size

In practical terms, how big do you need the safe to be? Bulky documents can take up a lot of space, and so can piles of cash! While personal data on USB drives take up hardly any space. So think about your needs, and again, think about what you may need to add in the future. It is better to go larger than you currently require to allow for evolving needs, than invest in something that is no use after a couple of years. In this scenario you end up compromising your security by not keeping items in the safe that probably should be. While thinking about size, you should also think about practical features such as what shelves or drawers are included in the safe. These can become really important in ensuring the safe remains suitable.

Type of Safe Lock

There are generally three types of locking system for a safe; a regular key, a unique code or number, or a biometric system, ie; eye, fingerprint or face recognition. You need to think about who needs access to the safe and what is the most practical system? Will keys get lost? Will codes get forgotten? Do you want access to be shared amongst several people? Is this the most secure way of doing it? Find the most suitable locking system for the access requirements you need.

Location

This should be combined with size as an important consideration, but essentially, where do you intend to keep the safe? Many people attach a safe to the floor or to a wall, so do you have sufficient space? Is it a solid wall or floor so the safe can be securely installed with bolts? Can you conceal the safe in a wall or floor void? Or in a drawer or cupboard? If you just need a small petty cash safe, then you could just lock it in a drawer.

Safe Installation

Following on from location, you need to think about how the safe will be installed. Many insurance companies will insist that a safe needs to be securely installed so it cannot be picked up and removed from the premises. So it is not enough to have a secure safe, to comply with your insurance cover it also needs to be properly installed. So how will you do this?  

Cost of Safes

Forget this as a consideration. If your budget is the main factor in the safe you choose, then you could be compromising on your security. The safe needs to fulfil all your requirements and that means it costs what it costs. So make sure you choose the right safe for your needs, and don’t worry about the cost, because choosing the wrong type of safe will cost you a lot more.