Burglary Ratings

• “B” Rate Safe

  A safe with at least a ¼-inch body and a ½-inch door. These safes face no testing and the presence of a locking device on the box gives them the “B” rating. When buying a B-rate safe, look at things such as the lock works, relockers and other features when making your decision.

• RSC (Residential Security Container)

  This is an Underwriters Laboratory™ (UL™) security rating (UL is the best-known of about 500 non-biased independent testing laboratories). 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

  Defined as a ½-inch thick steel box with a 1-inch thick door with a lock on it. It must have hard plate and a relocking device. 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) – UL™ TL-15 Rate

  “ER” is an insurance rating – safes given a UL™ 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 simply means “when the tool comes off the safe the clock stops.” There are over 50 different types of attacks that can be used to gain entrance into the safe; usually they will try only two or three—based on what they know about the product, and they know a lot.

• “F” Rate Safe – UL™ TL-30 Rate

  “F” is an insurance rating – The tests given for this rating are essentially the same as the TL-15 tests except 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 – UL™ TL-30X6 Rate

  G & A is an insurance rating – The tests for these safes are essentially the same as the TL-30 test except that the safe is tested on *all six 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.