The Cash Rating is the method used to categorise safes according to their security level. Safes are designed to meet various levels of security beginning at £1,000 cash and going up to £250,000 cash.

If valuables and jewellery are being stored in the safe instead of cash, most insurance companies will accept a valuables rating ten times the cash rating, for example, a safe with a £6,000 cash rating will cover valuables up to £60,000.

Always check with your insurance company that they will accept the safe you have selected for the recommended cash or valuables rating. We are always happy to supply additional information to insurance companies if required.

Fire ratings
Fire resistance is usually measured by the number of minutes a safe or cabinet has been tested to protect its contents when exposed to fire.

The longer the period in minutes, the greater the fire resistance offered. This rating is normally obtained by measuring the internal temperature of the safe whilst being exposed to an external temperature around 1,000 C.

The critical temperature before paper records char or combust is about 177 C. Computer media cabinets, however, are tested to maintain a much lower internal temperatures of below approximately 52 C – which is the maximum temperature most media manufacturers recommend.