What does SABS Category 5 mean?

SABS and South African security standards

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) is the national standards body. It publishes South African National Standards, known as SANS, and offers testing and certification against them. Safes, strongroom doors and strongrooms can be tested under the relevant national standard and assigned a category based on how they perform.

What the category number tells you

A category reflects how a product performed in a controlled attack test, such as how long it resisted specified tools and methods. In general, a higher category number means the product withstood a more demanding test. Insurers may refer to safe and strongroom categories when they set conditions for storing high-value items, which is one reason the grading matters to people choosing where to keep valuables.

What the category does not tell you

• It applies to the item that was tested, such as a vault door or a strongroom, and not automatically to the boxes inside or to the building.
• It describes resistance under test conditions. It does not mean an item cannot be breached.
• It is a certification at a point in time, so the certificate date, its scope and any renewal requirements matter.
• On its own, it says nothing about insurance cover, access procedures or monitoring.

Knox's certification

Knox's safe deposit and safe custody vault is a Category 5 vault that is fireproof, waterproof and bulletproof, and fitted with seismic detectors.

The vault is built from Chubbsafes InstaVault modular panels. Chubbsafes states that the panels are tested and certified by the SABS to the SANS 949 security standard, with SABS Category 4 or 5 burglar-resistance options, that they use Chubbsafes' Borox SP barrier material, and that their stepped, half-lap joints keep the fixings protected by the barrier (chubbsafes.com). Knox's installation is the Category 5 specification, confirmed in writing by the manufacturer.

Whenever a provider mentions a category rating, it is reasonable to ask which standard applies, which part of the facility was certified, who issued the certificate and whether it is current. A provider should be able to answer those questions clearly, and to put the answers in writing if your insurer asks for them.

Using a rating sensibly

Treat a category rating as one strong piece of evidence about physical resistance, alongside access control, monitoring, staff procedures and the written insurance terms. If you are storing items whose insurance depends on a particular safe or strongroom category, check with your own insurer which category it requires and whether the certification you have been shown meets that condition.