Safe way ahead in the UK

Sir – as a former director of John Tann (and the current chairman of British Standards Institution Committee GW/2, which is responsible for UK input to CEN Standards for safes), I thoroughly enjoyed consultant Mike Palmer's article on the current state of British safe manufacturing ('Safe as houses?', SMT, July 2003, pp37-38). Mike and I are old friends, and I share his sentiments – but we cannot afford to turn the clock back.

Mike paints a nostalgic picture of the British safe business of 20 years ago, and it's indeed sad to see the demise of our safe manufacturing capacity. However, there are several companies out there – at least one of which is capable of producing heavy bank equipment, and enjoys a substantial export business. Others specialise in the wall and floor safe market. I'm also given to understand that a British Safemakers' Association is in the process of being formed.

Standard CEN 1143 to which Mike refers offers ten grades of safes, rising in levels of resistance to a very high grade. Like all standards it must be regularly reviewed and updated if necessary. It is up to the end user and their insurer to select the grade of safe required appropriate to the risk.

Certainly, with standardisation and recent mergers much of the romance has gone out of the business, and it would be true to say that there's now an influx of questionable products within the European marketplace. That's particularly true of the domestic and smaller commercial end of the spectrum.

A CEN Standard covering this area is now at its final draft stage.