Safe ratings can be confusing — but we’re here to help! Be sure you know what the ratings mean so you don’t get the wrong safe.

Burglary Ratings

“B” Rate Safe: A safe with at least a 1/4 inch body, 1/2 inch door. These safes face no testing and the presence of a locking device on the box give them the “B” rating. When buying a B-rate safe, look at things such as lock work, relocks and other features when making your decision.

RSC (Residential Security Container): This is an Underwriters Laboratory™ security rating (Underwriters Laboratory™ is the best known of about 500 non-biased independent testing laboratories, known as U.L.™). The safe must withstand five minutes of rigorous prying, drilling, punching, chiseling, and tampering attacks and must be tested using specific common burglary tools to prevent access to the contents.

“C” Rate Safe: This is defined as a 1/2 inch thick steel box with a 1 inch thick door and a lock on it. It must have hard plate and a re-lock. As before no tests are given to provide this rating.

“E” Rate Safe: This rating is an insurance rating. It is normally a safe similar in construction to a TL-15, yet has not been tested by an Independent testing company. It is normally a composite or plate safe.

“ER” Rate Safe (E Revised) - U.L.™ TL-15 Rate: “ER” is an insurance rating - Safes given a U.L.™ TL-15 rating have all passed standardized tests defined in UL© Standard 687 using the same tools and usually the same group of testing engineers. The label requires that the safe be constructed of 1 inch solid steel or equivalent. The label means that the safe has been tested for a net working time of 15 minutes using “…common hand tools, drills, punches, hammers, and pressure applying devices.” Net working time means simply” when the tool comes off the safe the clock stops”. There are over fifty different types of attacks that can be used to gain entrance into the safe. Usually they will try only 2 or 3 based on what they know about the product, and they know a lot.

“F” Rate Safe - U.L.™ TL-30 Rate: “F” is an insurance rating - The tests given for this rating are essentially the same as the TL-15 tests except for, you guessed it, the net working time. They get 30 minutes and a few more tools to help them gain entrance. Keep in mind these engineers have the manufacturing blue prints and can disassemble the safe being tested before the test begins to see how it works. They know their stuff.

“G & A” Rate Safe - U.L™ TL-30 X6 Rate: “G & A” is an insurance ratings - The tests for these safes are essentially the same as the TL-30 test except that the safe is tested on all 6 sides, including the floor of the safe. Again the engineers can disassemble the unit prior to testing and have access to the blue prints to see how the safe is built and how it works.

Fire Ratings

1/2 Hour - U.L.™ class 350 Rate Safe: This safe has been tested by the Underwriters Laboratory™. The unit is heated for one-half hour to reach an exterior temperature of 1550 degrees. Because paper will begin to char at approximately 400 degrees, the unit being tested must maintain an interior temperature of less than 350 degrees during heat-up and cool-down testing in order to earn it’s rating. At U.L.™ after the safe has hit the test time the safe is removed from the oven and hoisted 30 feet (equal to 3 flights of a building) and dropped on to concrete rubble, it is allowed to cool and then picked up and placed back into a 2000 degree preheated oven (this is called the explosive test). It is done to see if the door will blow off, then it remains in the oven and the contents of the safe must come out unharmed.

1 Hour - U.L™ class 350 Rate Safe: To earn this rating, the safe is heated for one hour to reach an exterior temperature of 1550 degrees, then put through the cool down test. Like the 1/2 Hour test the safe must maintain an interior temperature of less than 350 degrees throughout the test. At U.L.™ after the safe has hit the test time the safe is removed from the oven and hoisted 30 feet (equal to 3 flights of a building) and dropped on to concrete rubble, it is allowed to cool and then picked up and placed back into a 2000 degree preheated oven (this is called the explosive test). It is done to see if the door will blow off, then it remains in the oven and the contents of the safe must come out unharmed.

2 Hour - U.L™ class 350 Rate Safe: The safe is heated for two hours to reach an exterior temperature of 1550 degrees, then put through the cool down test. During the complete process the interior of the safe cannot drop below 350 degrees. At U.L.™ after the safe has hit the test time the safe is removed from the oven and hoisted 30 feet (equal to 3 flights of a building) and dropped on to concrete rubble, it is allowed to cool and then picked up and placed back into a 2000 degree preheated oven (this is called the explosive test). It is done to see if the door will blow off, then it remains in the oven and the contents of the safe must come out unharmed.

Data Safes

1 Hour - U.L.™ class 150 Rate Safe - This is a test done to protect computer data for 1 Hour. The inside of the safe remains below 150 degrees for the entire test both in the oven and cool down period.

2 Hour - U.L.™ class 150 Rate Safe - This is a test done to protect computer data for a 2 hour period. The inside of the safe remains below 150 degrees for the entire test both in the oven and cool down period.

1 Hour - U.L.™ class 125 Rate Safe - This is a test done to protect computer data for a 1 hour period. the inside of the safe remains below 125 degrees for the entire test both in the oven and cool down period.

So the fires are almost out, the floods are coming and where are we now? People are rushing to close the barn door after the horse has already escaped! Whoops, I’m showing my age. That’s an old saying which means that we don’t think something is going to happen until it does and then we try to fix it, instead of preparing for it to happen before it happens. I keep thinking about how we can let the people out there know that it is inevitable …. as long as we live in a desert like community and the weather offers the exact same contributing factors every year, how can we not prepare for what will one day most likely happen - a fire, a flood, a burglary.

 Get those precious pictures of the kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, etc. in a safe rated for fire. Get those cd disks or negatives, full of the years of memories into the proper safe so they will survive a fire. Putting them into a safe purchased from a box store or stationary outlet will not save them they are for the protection of paper which burns at 451 degrees. These safes will allow the interior of the safe to reach 350 degrees. Disks and negatives melt at about 200 degrees.

And they definitely will not keep the burglar out. If you put anything that a burglar would be happy to take to steal your identity into one of those safes, you are asking for trouble. Just think about it - you get in your car, you drive down to the nearest stationary outlet or big box store and you walk in. You pick out the safe you want, what you think will protect your valuables. You put it in the basket and you wheel it to the counter, pay for it and wheel it out to the car. You put it in the trunk, you take it home and carry it into the house. You put it in the closet, gather up all your valuables and put them inside. Everything’s safe, right?

You don’t bolt it down, you don’t make it hard for anyone who breaks into your house to pick it up and carry it out. Boy are they going to get a great holiday present when they open it up! Because of the nature of these safes small size, you wrap your valuables up in a nice neat package that a burglar can pick up and carry out.

And the saddest thing to me is that people out there always think “It won’t happen to me”. I was never a boyscout (since I’m a female) but I certainly agree with their catch phrase “Be Prepared”.