1. The best safecrackers in the business never steal a penny. They work for UL.
2. UL has been testing and certifying safes for more than 80 years. The first safe tested for burglary resistance was in 1923 and the first bank vault in 1925.
3. Chisels, wenches, screwdrivers, power saws, cutting torches, crowbars, abrasive cutting wheels, jackhammers, even specified amounts of nitroglycerin are just a few of the “tools” UL technicians use during a safe attack. The idea is to test safes to worst-case scenarios. They use tools that could be found at any construction site or hardware store. They also analyze blueprints as if the burglar might have blueprints of the design and attack its weakest points to evaluate the safe for certification.
4. UL’s safe attack tests are conducted by a two-person crew. The object is to create an opening large enough to withdraw “valuables” (anywhere from 2- to 6-square-inches on a safe and up to 96-square-inches on a vault), activate the locking mechanism so the door opens or to cut as many bolts from the door as necessary to pry it open before the time specified in the rating requirement expires.
5. Safes are rated for their resistance to attack against specific tools for a set period of time. There are a dozen different ratings, everything from ATM machines, to gun safes to bank vaults. For example, a safe that bears a Class TRTL-15×6 rating, which might be found in a jewelry store, should resist a hand tool and torch attack for a minimum of 15 minutes. A TRTL-30×6-rated safe, which would protect important documents or store money, should withstand an attack for 30 minutes. The ultimate safe rating — a TXTL60 — should withstand an hour’s worth of attack that includes the use of 8 ounces of nitroglycerin.
6. Because of the size and weight of certain safes and vault doors, it is not always practical to have the product shipped to UL’s laboratory locations. UL’s burglary protection staff has traveled to destinations such as Japan, France, Israel, England, Finland, Taiwan and India.
7. In addition to burglary protection ratings, UL also rates safes for their fire resistance protection. Class 350 safes protect paper documents, Class 150 safes protect magnetic tape and photographic film, while Class 125 safes protect floppy disks. In addition to the Class Rating, safes obtain an hourly rating for fire resistance — anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours.
8. Another cool test UL runs on safes is an impact test. This test simulates a safe falling though multiple stories of a building — resulting from a fire that has weakened the structure. After the safe is heated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a furnace, it’s raised three stories and dropped onto a pile of bricks. In order to meet the requirement, the safe can’t pop open. Temperatures inside can’t rise to above 300 degrees Fahrenheit and sample papers left inside have to be readable.
9. The specialized suits you sometimes find technicians wearing are not just for show. Their entire ensemble, including protective coat, helmet and gloves, protects the crew against the adverse effects of sparking. After all, safety can’t be taken for granted, even within the walls of UL.
10. Safes are just one of the 19,000 product categories that UL tests and certifies. While UL’s burglary protection team cracks combinations, shatters glass and fires .44-caliber bullets at body armor, other UL engineers and technicians keep busy testing everything from TVs, coffee makers and holiday light strings to fire extinguishers, medical CAT scan equipment and building materials.

As a security professional, I firmly believe that an electronic lock is far superior to a mechanical dial. They are easier to use, easy to program, have a high success rate, and offer features that a mechanical lock is not capable of doing. Also they have proven to be more secure.

Before I was in the safe industry, I remember my first time trying to enter in the combination to my first safe. The key word is trying! Ten tries and 15 minutes later, I finally was able to enter in the combination correctly and get into my safe. Who has time for that? After that I was sold on the electronic lock. Entering in a combination on the electronic lock takes 5 seconds!

What’s even better is that you can change a code on the electronic keypad faster than what it takes even the most experienced safe dialer to dial in a combination on the mechanical lock. Also, with an electronic lock, you can enter your code and gain entry in low light. To change the combination on a mechanical lock, a safe professional must come out and change the combination for you. This can be a costly expense.

As a tip, look for safes with UL classified locks. Whether it is a mechanical dial or electronic lock, safes with a UL classification have been tested against wear and tear, and have proven extremely reliable. Also, there are different classifications given to certain locks. If the safe is a mechanical lock, the classification is called a “Group”. Simply put, there are two groups; “Group I” or “Group II”. “Group I” being a more secure lock, while “Group II” is a basic lock used on most home and gun safes. Electronic locks are classified as “Type I”. A “Type I” electronic lock is equivalent to a Mechanical “Group I” lock. A “Group II” Mechanical lock has a total of 50,000 usable combinations while a “Type I” electronic lock has 1 million usable combinations!

How are the electronic locks powered, you ask? In most cases, electronic locks take 1 or 2 9V alkaline batteries. What if the batteries die? In each lock there is a chip that retains your combination for up to 10 years in case of battery failure. This means you have plenty of time to put a new battery or batteries in, enter your code, and open your safe.

According to the lock manufacturers, it is recommended that mechanical locks be serviced once a year to maintain proper function. The average cost for this service is between $100-150 per year. The only servicing that is ever needed on an electronic lock is replacing the battery.

Electronic locks can offer some cool features that a mechanical combination dial cannot. Standard on most electronic locks is a lockout feature. After 3 unsuccessful attempts at opening the safe, the keypad will freeze up for five minutes keeping a potential thief out of your safe. Time delayed opening is an option often used by businesses such as gas stations and fast food restaurants to prevent someone who is holding them up a quick getaway. Duress is an additional feature that is wired into an alarm system that sends a silent signal to the alarm company that lets them know you are being held up at gunpoint. The safe will open but the police will be on the robbers trail quickly. Duress and Time Delay are available at a nominal charge.

Electronic locks are virtually manipulation proof, whereas mechanical dials can be manipulated. In the old days, safe cracking was an art that took lots of focus and concentration. While there are still technicians and that use this method, to open safes, there is a device that can robotically open a safe with a mechanical dial just as fast and much easier. In fact, these devices are commercially sold and most safe technicians own one. If this device falls into the wrong hands, the losses of personal property can be devastating. Here is a link to an article by Kyle Vogt called “On Robotics and Changing the World” that explains how 2 MIT students built a homemade, automated safe dialer, how it works, and how long it took them to get into a safe with a mechanical dial lock.