What to Know About Buying a Commercial Safe

In the wide world of safes, commercial safes are the behemoths. These safes are designed and built to withstand the longest break-in attempts and the most extreme fires. In short: If you’re looking for the highest security safe, you’re shopping for a commercial safe.

While we’re undoubtedly in the business of selling safes (and sincerely hope you’ll buy one from us), we ultimately want you to buy the best safe to suit your needs. Since 1988, we’ve been selling the Pacific Northwest’s biggest selection of high-quality safes. The following outlines our professional insights and advice about commercial safes. This includes:

• Commercial Safes vs. High-End Gun Safes

• Where Commercial Safe Ratings Come From

• Commercial Safe Ratings — How Timed Tests Work

• Commercial Safe Ratings: TL Safes

• Commercial Safe Ratings: TRTL Safes

• Best UL Listed Safe: ISM® Super Platinum TRTL-60x6

• World’s Most Secure Safe: Super Diamond TXTL 60x6

• Where to Buy a Commercial Safe

Commercial Safes vs. High-End Gun Safes

High-end gun safes and home safes are an excellent solution if you’re protecting no more than $100,000 - $150,000 in value. If you have more than this to protect or items that are irreplaceable, we recommend a commercial safe.

That’s not to say these high-quality residential gun safes home safes aren’t well built. Many safes are considered high-security and offer reliable fire ratings and burglary protection. These are safes built by many of America’s finest safe manufacturers:

• Fort Knox

• American Security

Additionally, Liberty and even Champion are known for making high-end gun safes and home safes. In most cases these safes have been built with thicker gauge steel. Furthermore, they have passed manufacturers’ fire testing — or, in some cases, third-party testing.

Where Commercial Safe Ratings Come From

Underwriters Laboratory (U.L.) is a neutral and independent third-party testing organization established in 1894. Its primary mission is to enhance safety in living and working environments by providing reliable product safety ratings.

U.L. began testing safes for burglary resistance in 1923. Today, Underwriters Laboratory has five commercial burglary ratings. They are ranked below from least to most secure:

• TL-15

• TL-30

• TL-30x6

• TRTL-30x6

• TRTL-60x6

Commercial Safe Ratings — How Timed Tests Work

The number following the TL or TRTL describes the number of minutes a safe can withstand an assault. This time frame can be deceiving to the everyday consumer for several ways:

• The clock on tests only runs when engineers are actively attacking the safe. The clock is paused if engineers pause to use the restroom, get a different tool, or re-think their attack. In reality, testing even a TL-15 safe can take hours.

• The engineers are skilled safe experts.

• The engineers are given the full schematics of the safe before they begin their attack. (Something most burglars won’t have.)

• The engineers are able to fully disassemble and inspect the safe prior to testing. (This is another advantage most burglars won’t have.)

Commercial Safes and Insurance Coverage

U.L. ratings were established to provide insurance companies a standard in which to base their coverage for protecting higher value items. Insurance companies rely on these ratings to guarantee a share will withstand an attack for a specified amount of time against safe crackers and professional burglars in real-life situations.

When writing this article, we reached out to Jewelers Mutual, the number one jewelry insurance company in the United States. Jewelers Mutual requires customers to invest in U.L. rated safes. The rating they require is based on the total value a customer wishes to insure.

Keep in mind that these requirements are for a commercial/business application. In a setting such as this, multiple other security factors typically come into play. These may include:

• 24/hr Monitoring

• Alarms

• Cameras

• Door Sensors

That being said, even residential customers can use these guidelines to determine what U.L. rating they need. Here is the breakdown of coverage from Jewelers Mutual:

• TL-15 — Total Value of up to $250K - $500K

• TL-30 — Total Value of up to $750K

• TL-30x6 — Total Value of up to $1 Million

• TRTL 30x6 — Total Value up to $3 million

• TRTL 60x6 — Total Value up to $5 million

Commercial Safe Ratings: TL Safes

With five different U.L. ratings, TL safes are the starting point for commercial safe security. TL stands for ‘tool latency.’ In practical terms, TL stands for preventing cutting and/or drilling a 6-inch by 6-inch hole for a period of time.

U.L. breaks down its TL ratings into the following security levels:

• TL-15 — Withstand a 15-minute tool attack on the door

• TL-30 — Withstand a 30-minute tool attack on the door

• TL-30x6 — Withstand a 30-minute tool attack on all (6) sides of the safe

Cutting and drilling tools include:

• Common Hand Tools

• Picking Tools (such as a pick ax)

• Mechanical or Portable Electronic Tools (such drills and power saws)

• Sledgehammers

• Grinders (such as angle grinders)

Best TL Rated Commercial Safe: AMSEC AmVaults

Our favorite and what we believe are the highest quality TL-rated safes produced is the AmVaults product lineup built by American Security Products in Fontana, California.

So whether you’re a diamond dealer or have this level of monetary & sentimental value in your home, investing in the correct TL-rated safe will serve you well.

Commercial Safe Ratings: TRTL Safes

To take it a step further, UL has yet another classification of security safes. That’s right; we’re not done with this broad topic of high-security safes. To prevent even more motivated and sophisticated burglars, manufacturers set out to design and build a safe to thwart not only a tool attack but also a Torch attack.

Cutting torches have long been used by thieves to attack both residential and commercial safes. Manufacturers and engineers went to the drawing board and started to develop Torch Rated (TR) products for customers looking for the highest levels of protection.

The TRTL ratings are based on increments of time the safe can withstand an attack from tools and cutting torches.

• TRTL 30x6 — Withstand a 30-minute tool and torch attack on all (6) sides of the safe

• TRTL 60x6 —Withstand a 60-minute tool and torch attack on all (6) sides of the safe

Best UL Listed Safe: ISM® Super Platinum TRTL-60x6

If you’re looking for the best in security and fire protection, look no further than the ISM® Super Platinum TRTL-60x6. These are the most secure safes in the world.

The image above is of a TL-30 safe. While very secure, a TL-30 safe does not offer the same level of protection on all six sides. Nor does it protect against a torch attack. During this break-in, the thieves entered the business through the ceiling. They cut into the safe without even setting foot on the business’ floor. An ISM® Super Platinum TRTL-60x6 would have offered 60 minutes of protection against this attack.

Manufactured by ISM (Israeli Safe Manufacturing), these elite safes are built in Israel. ISM is the oldest producer of torch-rated safes in the world. To become an ISM dealer, you must undergo a high level of scrutiny, including displaying the capacity to accept, deliver, and install an ISM safe (more to come on this).

We are proud to be one of the exclusive ISM dealers and carry one of the largest selection of in-stock and ready-to-deliver ISM safes. When you purchase an in-stock ISM safe from us, you aren’t waiting weeks or months for your safe to be delivered. You could have your safe delivered nearly instantly!

Please Note: Delivery availability varies based on your location, the safe being purchased, and the current delivery schedule.

If you’re looking for the best in security and fire protection, look no further than the ISM® Super Platinum TRTL-60x6.

World’s Most Secure Safe: Super Diamond TXTL 60x6

ISM builds one model up from the ISM® Super Platinum TRTL-60x6 — the Super Diamond TXTL 60x6. However, this model does not carry the coveted U.L rating, meaning it hasn’t actually been tested.

That being said, based on the design and materials of the TXTL Super Diamond, ISM is confident it will hold up not only to tool and torch attacks but also explosive attacks! This safe has reinforced bolt sockets to prevent explosions from sacrificing the locking mechanism. Again, ISM randomly places re-lockers throughout the safe’s door, thwarting nearly all drill attempts from the most skilled safe crackers in the world.

Where to Buy a Commercial Safe

Ultimately, as we always say, “When you buy a safe, you buy yourself time.” So whether you own a business and need these ratings for insurance or you’re a homeowner with extremely high-value and irreplaceable items, a safe offers you peace of mind.

If you have questions about specific models, need help determining which model is right for you, or want to know when our next shipment of ISM safes is scheduled to arrive, reach out.