The eSafes Buyer’s Guide to Fire Safes could help you find the answer. It has all of the information you need on the kind of safes available, such as fire safes, for data and for paper, fire chests and fire cabinets.
• What types of fire safe are available?
• What sizes should I choose?
• What do fire ratings mean?
• Will my safe improve my insurance premiums?
• Which locks and accessories do I need?
If you’re asking yourself ‘which fire safe should I choose?’ you should first ask ‘what do I need to protect from a fire’? The contents of your safe will influence all aspects of your decision; from the size of your safe to the fire rating it has been awarded.
What types of fire safe are available?
A wide variety of fire safes are currently available from some of the biggest brands in the security industry like Phoenix Safes, Chubbsafes and Securikey. Most fire safes can be divided into two distinct categories: fire safes for data and fire safes for paper. These safes are specifically designed to safeguard your key documentation or electronics. Fireproof cash safes, fire chests and fire cabinets are also available. They are all extremely popular in business, where fire protection could be key to a successful recovery from a fire.
What sizes should I choose?
The size of the fire safe depends entirely on the intended contents, since the space required to safeguard a back up or external hard drive may be greatly different than a paper filing system. It may be the case that you require a number of fire filing cabinets or simply one small for chest.
What do fire ratings mean?
Fire ratings are awarded by independent testing organisations to establish the length of time that a safe will protect its contents under the intense heat of a fire. Fire ratings range from 30 minutes to 2 hours or more. Fire safes are awarded their fire rating by independent bodies, which test safes under rigorous conditions before assigning a fire rating. For personal data contained within a home, a fire rating of 30 minutes or 1 hour is usually sufficient, since most fires which begin in urban conurbations are responded to quickly. For business safes or office safes, where data, cash and documentation is absolutely essential to the business, a fire rating of 2 hours or more is considered preferable.
Will my safe improve my insurance premiums?
Fire ratings are used as an indicator of the degree of security certain items covered by your home or commercial insurance policy. As such the use of fire safes could have a positive effect on your insurance premiums. We advise customers to consult their insurer to enquire how their premiums might be affected by the use of the fire safe.
Which locks and accessories do I need?
The fire safes available at eSafes use key locks, electronic locks or biometric locks. Safes which require keys or the input of a code in an electronic keypad are most common. Keypad codes eliminate the need for keys which could be lost. The problem is that a code might be easy to forget. Biometric locks are designed to read the finger print of the owner and only unlock for this user. If you are storing paper or files, additional shelves or interior safe accessories can be purchased. A number of other small scale safe accessories and security products are also available. This includes decoy safes designed to look like simple household items when really storing cash, important documents and more.