In the world of burglary safes, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) TL-15 rated safes are the first rung of the commercial safe ladder. They have been certified by UL to resist entry via the door for at least 15 minutes using hand-held power tools, drills, and pressure applying devices. TL-15 burglary safes are serious pieces of equipment, with even the smallest unit rarely weighing less than 500 pounds. Incorporating the latest anti-burglary technology, they are constructed of reinforced, high strength concrete mixed with ultra-hard carbide or ceramic nodules sandwiched between two layers of steel.
And yet all is not as it seems in safe-land, as exemplified by a rather disconcerting story. A man purchased a used TL-15 rated jewelry safe cheaply, but found that the combination dial was binding. After calling around to various locksmiths for repair quotes he decided fixing the safe wasn’t worthwhile. So he conducted an experiment using commonly available hand tools – two pry bars and a sledgehammer – to break into his own TL-15 safe. These are the sort of tools that you can find in garages all over the country. No power tools were involved.
After a mere 20 to 25 minutes of prying, the novice safecracker had delaminated the boltwork from the composite door, allowing the safe door to pop open. He then used a sledgehammer to test the body of the safe. The allegedly high strength concrete fill disintegrated surprisingly quickly under this attack, fully yielding in about 10 minutes. This safe performed terribly given its ostensible TL-15 rating.
UL employs the best safe crackers in the safe industry. They work under ideal conditions and thoroughly review every safe’s schematics for weak points to exploit before testing. Their testing time only includes the time that their tools are actually on the safe. If they take a break, the testing clock stops. If they get a glass of water, the testing clock stops. If they go to the bathroom, the testing clock stops. The idea that a first time safecracker could pick up some hand tools and pry open a TL-rated safe in a modest amount of time indicates that something was very, very wrong with that safe.
Successful pry or sledgehammer attacks against a TL-rated burglary safe should be almost impossible. A TL-rated safe should be immune to almost any attack involving hand tools. Even power tools will generally take much longer than the time rating on the safe. It is not unusual for a seasoned safe-technician using carbide cutting discs to labor for one or two grueling hours to penetrate the side of a legitimate TL-15 rated safe.
So why did this particular TL-15 safe perform so poorly? The answer, unfortunately, is because the safe was an import made in South Korea. Most imported burglary safes are produced in three countries: China, South Korea or Mexico. Lower labor costs in these countries allow imported burglary safes to sell at significantly lower price points than comparable U.S. made safes. But factories in many emerging market countries rarely meet the stringent manufacturing tolerances commonly demanded in developed countries.
Chinese factories have been known to forge UL certifications and then export the resulting fraudulent products around the world. Overseas factories also frequently cut corners by subtly changing key aspects of safe construction and design to save money. For example, a design that stipulates continuous welds might instead be made using cheaper and weaker spot or skip welds. In one egregious case, a foreign made TL-30 safe door was cut open for testing by a competitor only to have loose gravel and wood chips spill out!
Materials sourced in emerging markets are also often inferior. A36 is the standard grade of steel used in burglary safe construction. This type of steel has a minimum yield strength of 36,000 psi. But that is only a lower bound; the actual quality of different batches of A36 steel can vary widely depending on where they are sourced. A36 steel originating from emerging markets – and China in particular – will often be sub-par compared to domestically sourced material. It’s highly probable that a safe made from Chinese steel will yield to a burglar’s attacks more readily than a similar safe made from American or European steel.
I would like to note one exception to the rule that imported burglary safes should be avoided. AMSEC is a highly reputable safe manufacturer that has been in business since the late 1940s. They source some of their lower priced models from China, but have the operational scale and integrity to demand that these foreign factories meet their strict quality control standards. However, AMSEC’s high-end models with the tightest tolerances and highest security are still made in the U.S.
Safes manufactured in the U.S. are more expensive than imported burglary safes – sometimes significantly so. This is because domestic safes are produced to tighter tolerances using higher quality materials. This costs more, but results in a superior product that performs superbly when it counts. When you buy an imported burglary safe you are rolling the dice. A substantial number are outright counterfeits, or suffer from latent defects in design, materials or workmanship that are invisible to normal inspection. An inferior safe only reveals its weaknesses in the wake of a burglary or fire, when it is far too late.
