Safes are essential tools designed to effectively secure valuable items. The most obvious ones include cash, jewels and jewellery, works of art and collections of all kinds. However, valuable items are not only those mentioned above. In many places (whether in homes, flats or in businesses and institutions), documents of all kinds – those in printed form (such as deeds, contracts, insurance policies, loan and financial documents, wills, as well as bank account data) and those in electronic form (such as data backups on all kinds of storage media) – are of great and strategic value.
In order to protect documents and data carriers appropriately, you need a robust special-purpose safe – a certified fireproof model that will provide excellent and effective protection for the documents, data carriers, as well as electronic equipment deposited in it against fire, heat and fire extinguishing agents.
But is a fireproof case a sufficient solution or is it better to choose a safe with fire resistance? If you want to know what to choose, we invite you to read this article.
Fireproof safe vs. fireproof cassette
One could assume that all metal cassettes and safes are 'fireproof' products, because products made of steel are more resistant to fire and high temperatures than other things (carbon steel melts between 1370 and 1540 °C). But this is not the fire resistance we are concerned with in the context of metal cassettes or safes and the things that will be deposited in them.
When a fire occurs, cassettes and safes are subjected to high temperatures and the temperature inside these devices rises. Both paper and storage media are items for which an excessive and drastic increase in temperature can be fatal, as irreparable damage can occur. In order to prevent this, it is sufficient to choose a safe with a fireproof certificate – such a product ensures protection against excessive temperature rises inside for a specific period of time.
Unfortunately, a metal cassette will never provide such protection. It is small, compact and there is no way to construct it with such materials to limit the risk of temperature rise.
Fireproof safes for documents
When it comes to fireproof safes, you will find a wide range of such models at Hartmann Tresore, both for domestic use and business environments. You can choose from:
• lighter cabinets with fire protection according to EN 15659: cabinets with the designation LFS 30 P and LFS 60 P are used to protect various valuables, important documents (e.g. securities, contracts, declarations, financial documents) against fire and high temperatures for 30 or 60 minutes;
• safes with fire protection in accordance with EN 1047-1 (S 60 P, S 120 P): these protect the contents of the safe for 60 or 120 minutes.
It is worth knowing that the safes on display are available in various burglary resistance classes, providing protection not only in the event of fire, but also against theft.
Fireproof safe for data carriers
Data carriers are more sensitive and responsive to temperature rises, compared to printouts on paper. The secure storage of all types of data media is linked to investing in a special-purpose safe. Such safes have additional fillings in the body. If we are talking about fire resistance class: we have S 60 DIS and S 120 DIS (according to EN 1047-1) available – that is, 60 or 120 minutes of protection against fire, smoke and fire-fighting liquids (thanks to special seals in the door).
These models provide secure storage for media, but also for jewellery and other valuables, by being available in different classes of burglary resistance.
Find out more: What are the differences between paper safes and media safes?
Summary
Metal cassettes, due to their small dimensions, will never fulfil the same role as fireproof safes with certificates. They are not recommended as a means of protection either against unauthorised access or theft, let alone against fire and heat.
Secure storage of money, jewellery, valuables, bullion, documents and data carriers will only be provided by class safes – with burglary resistance and fire resistance certificates.
We also recommend other articles about cabinets and safes with fire retardance, such as:
