Fire proof cabinets

[Tom Sutton]

I received the following message and I have no ideas on the subject and was wondering if anybody has any dealings with such items.

I would be very grateful if you have any advice on which fire proof cabinets to buy? I have been looking all over the internet and can’t seem to find any reliable advice source on this matter. I have never bought one of these products before and all the vendors seem to have different views.  If you could point me in the right direction for 2 medium sized paper protection cabinets and 1 medium sized data protection cabinet I would be very grateful.

[Martin Burford]

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Try Home Saver
they have a two drawer Fire-safe 2drawer office file claiming 1Hr FR  tel o 0808 100 2090   Product Code SAFE FOF 1..can'tv see a quoted price.
Conqueror

[Chris Houston]

You might want to consider this carefully.  What do you intend to keep in them?  The reasons I ask is that most fires that I have been to have burned for more than 1 hour.  If the contents are critical to the success of a business, it might be better to duplicate the contents and store a copy at a different location.

[Ashley Wood]

You also have to select your data safe carefully as ones for paper will not be suitable for electronic media as they get too hot inside during the fire. The idea of a data safe is that you will be able to dig it out of the rubble, open it and retrieve the contents. How long is a piece of string! Fire fighters damp down for days before you could retrieve a safe, so one hour would not be much help! Also, 1 hr refers to the integrity during a fire rather than its immersion resistance and this is what is critical. Look at the 'Rossengrens' web site or 'chubb'. These are proper commercial safes and are designed to be dug out after being immersed in heat for long periods. The suggestion of critical back ups is sound. Locate these in a cool location in another building. Don't sit them next to radiators or leave in the car as heat will destroy electronic data and UV from the sun will fade your paper documents.

[Chris Houston]

And I would add that the backup should be not just another building, but another site, at least a few kilometers away, as fires/explosions/floods/airplane crashes or what ever else you are not expecting might take out more than 1 building.  

I am of course assuming that we are talking about storing critical information here, not your holiday photos.

[kurnal]

I wish I had a £1 for every time I have been told by an anxious building owner standing outside a smoking building "thank God we had all the key documents in the fire safe"  only to find a charred mass in the bottom of the alleged fire safe on opening it.  My advice is always theres no such thing as a fire proof safe.

Fire Safes can be ok provided that your fire is no more severe, long lasting or hotter than the the fire test to which the safe was assessed. By the time you get to a reasonably high standard of safety the cost is through the roof.
I go along with Chris' advice. Keep your  documents somewhere else and take  duplicate copies of all essential documents. Even photocopies can at least prove that the documents such as deeds or design patents etc really existed.

[wee brian]

Yes if they have tested the safe check what the temp was inside. The fact that the safe survives is no use.