Cash rooms and safes

Installing a room specifically designed for secure storage of cash and change if a business handles significant quantities on a daily basis, is a good idea. This room should then contain safes designed for storing cash and change.

There are various types of safe with a multitude of features to consider, such as

• the inclusion of a time lock (so the safe can’t be opened during certain periods of time) or time delay (the door will only open after a pre-programmed period of time) – alongside signs explaining this – the features are intended to deter hold-ups.
• Alternatively or additionally, the safe could have a dual lock so two or more keys/combinations are required to open it (with one key/combination normally kept off-site by the person/firm who collects the deposited cash within the safe).

Ideally, cash safes in wholesale and retail premises where various employees may be responsible for moving cash to the safe, regardless of the supplementary features, should be designed to allow cash and small items to be ‘posted’ without a key/combination (the key/combination holder normally being elsewhere). The design of the safe should be such that the level of attack protection around the post opening is to the same level of resistance as the rest of the safe, i.e. it is not a weak point.

Allianz have a wealth of guidance and information surrounding safes and cash rooms including details of their preferred suppliers. See below links.