EN14450 Secure Safe Cabinets Are Not Safes

The “Secure Cabinet” standard EN11450 was introduced in Europe in 2005 and was intended as a standard for Secure Cabinets used in a domestic setting. This standard was introduced to address the need for a certification that could be referenced when a light secure cabinet is required for the safe storage of general items in a home setting such as passports or a camera.

The Intention of the standard:

The standard was developed as away to assure a user of these units that the locking mechanism and construction were consistent with the most basic needs of secure storage. That an EN1300 lock resistant to bump or pick attacks was employed and that the body offered a degree of protection against most hand tools.

• EN14450 Secure Cabinets are not in the same standard as EN1143-1 certified safes.
• In testing of EN14450 S1 and S2 cabinets only “hand tools” are used.

The Tools Used In EN14450 Testing Are Primarily;

1,5 kg hammer , Chisel, Crow bar < 730 mm , Bolt cropper, Hand saws, Wedges, Punches, Screwdriver, cordless drill  (approx. 500 W) “normal” drill bits. (In the EN 1143-1 this tool category is the most basic category “A”)

ISRG Insurance Experts Opinion 2016:

On examining the test times and requirements of the standard for Secure Cabinets EN14450, the insurance participants in I.S.R.G. decided there was no basis for an indicative rating for these units in the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland in a commercial or domestic environment for two primary reasons:

• The EN11450 is a “Secure Safe Cabinet” standard and was never intended as a standard for a cash holding unit. Given this fact, to indicate a cash cover could be quite misleading.

• As these units are “Secure Safe Cabinets” they were never intended for use in a commercial setting. Providing an indicative cash cover for these light units might mislead people to think that an overnight cash cover should be available in a commercial setting.

This decision regarding Secure Safe Cabinets EN14450 parallels conclusions arrived at by the insurance industries of Sweden, Switzerland, Austria and Slovakia. Germany does not provide any cover for these units in a commercial setting.

This decision by the Irish insurance industry representatives does not however mean that these units will not receive an insurance cover. I.S.R.G. recommendations like all such recommendation across Europe are for indicative purposes only. An insurance company may decide to cover goods held in these units under particular conditions but that is purely on a case by case basis.

• An insurance rating should not be quoted for these units when they are being offered for sale.
• These Secure Cabinet units should not be described as Safes.

European CEN263 Expert Opinion 2020 Is To Change To Title Of The EN14450 Standard:

An informal vote of CEN263 taken in 2020 decided to remove the word “safe” from the title of the EN14450 standard "Secure Safe Cabinets" as, it was the unanimous opinion of the CEN/TC/WG1 that the word “safe” had been misused to market these units. Most countries in Europe including Ireland, either do not provide a rate for EN14450 or will only provide a low rate of cover in a domestic setting. The formal vote in Europe on this matter is scheduled for 2021.