Strongrooms take two forms:
· Cast in-situ. The strongroom structure is cast on site where there is insufficient access to manoeuvre prefabricated panels into place.
· Pre-fabricated. The strongroom is formed on site from pre-fabricated panels, designed to bolt together securely to form the desired configuration.
Strongrooms are not only designed to secure larger volumes of cash and jewellery but are increasingly used to store items such as artwork and antiquities, pharmaceuticals, military equipment and highly sensitive documentation. Strongrooms are also increasingly being used to protect large scale IT server hubs due to the high value of the server equipment and business continuity risks associated with the potential loss of such equipment or data.
It is important to ensure that all exposed fixings, jointing plates, the substrate into which the device is fitted and the locking mechanisms are regularly checked to ensure that they are in good condition and that they have not been tampered with.
It is also important to ensure only those design options listed, such as special cable access or ventilation panels, are incorporated within the strongroom construction as the use of alternative options may undermine the level of security provided by the strongroom.
Explosion (EX) Designation
This optional designation is only applicable to strongrooms achieving grades II and above.
This optional designation indicates a product offers resistance to detonation of a PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) explosive charge followed by post detonation tool attacks aimed at achieving entry to the strongroom. Where the use of explosive charges is perceived to be a threat it is recommended products with this designation are selected.
Core Drill (CD) Designation
This optional designation is only applicable to strongrooms and strongroom doors achieving grades VIII and above to EN 1143-1. This designation reflects the ability of a product to pass the diamond drill test specified within EN 1143-1 which is designed to demonstrate the product’s superior resistance to methods of forced entry that solely involve the use of diamond core drills.
