A safe room or panic room is a fortified room which is installed in a private residence or business to provide a safe shelter, or hiding place, for the inhabitants in the event of a break-in, home invasion, tornado, or other threat. Safe rooms usually contain communications equipment, so that law enforcement authorities can be contacted.

Construction techniques[link]

The simplest safe room is simply a closet with the hollow-core door replaced with an exterior-grade solid-core door that has a deadbolt and longer hinge screws and strike-plate screws to resist battering. Sometimes, the ceiling is reinforced, or gated, to prevent easy access from the attic or from an overhead crawl space.

More expensive safe rooms, such as those constructed for celebrities and executives, have walls and a door reinforced with sheets of steel, Kevlar, or bullet-resistant fibreglass. The hinges and strike plate are often reinforced with long screws. Some safe rooms may also have externally-vented ventilation systems and a separate telephone connection. They might also connect to an escape shaft.

Safe rooms in the basement can be built with concrete walls, a building technique that is normally not possible on the upper floors of wood-framed structures unless there is substantial structural reinforcement to the building.

U.S. State Department often uses steel grillwork much like a jail to seal off parts of a home used by U.S. Foreign Service members overseas when they are living in cities with a high crime threat. In some cities the entire upstairs area is grilled off^[1] as well as every window and door to the home. Other homes have steel doors to one or more bedrooms that can be bolted closed to provide time for security forces to arrive.

For strong storms or tornadoes, a storm safe room must be built to withstand high winds and flying debris, even if the rest of the residence becomes severely damaged or destroyed; specific concerns: ^[2]

• The safe room should be adequately anchored to the foundation to resist overturning and uplift.
• The walls, ceiling, and door of the shelter should withstand wind pressure and resist penetration by windborne objects or falling debris.
• The connections between all parts of the safe room should be strong enough to resist separation by wind.
• Sections of either interior or exterior residence walls which are used as walls of the safe room, should be separated from the structure of the residence so that damage to the residence will not cause damage to the safe room.^[2]

Features[link]

Safe rooms may contain communications equipment, such as a cellular telephone, land-line telephone or an amateur radio transceiver, so that law enforcement authorities can be contacted. There may also be a monitor for external security cameras and an alarm system. In basic safe rooms, a peephole in the door may be used for a similar purpose. Safe rooms are typically stocked with basic emergency and survival items such as a flashlight, blankets, a first-aid kit, water, packaged food, self-defence tools, firearms, a gas mask, and a simple portable toilet.

Citadel on ships[link]

Safe rooms on ships, sometimes called "citadels",^[3] are increasingly being installed as a countermeasure against piracy.^[4] When attacked, the crew can retreat into the safe room and call for help (which in the case of ships of some countries may include the intervention of military forces). Because of the nature of ship construction, the safe room is typically constructed in a concealed location within a void within the ship, to resist efforts by the pirates to find the crew before help arrives. Safe rooms sometimes have facilities to allow the crew to remotely disable the ship's engines and electronic systems, making it impossible for the pirates to sail the ship to a location they control. The safe room is also typically armoured against direct physical attack, to allow the crew to remain safe for a few hours, even if located by the pirates, and to allow rescuing forces full scope for the use of armed force to re-take the ship without risk to the crew.

The effect of the safe room is thus to deny the pirates access to the crew for hostage-taking, to remove the capability to move the ship to a location favourable for the pirates, and to facilitate retaking the ship by armed force without risk to the crew. The retreat of the crew to a safe room could encourage the pirates to leave the ship of their own volition.

Safe rooms have been used as a defensive measure in ships threatened by piracy in Somalia. In 2010, 4,185 seafarers had been attacked and 1,090 taken hostage, but 342 were kept safe in a citadel.^[5]

Notable uses[link]

On 1 January 2010, a panic room was instrumental in saving Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard from an Islamic fundamentalist attacker who wanted to kill him for having drawn a controversial cartoon of Muhammad in 2005 (see Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy). The secure room prevented Westergaard from being reached by the axe-wielding intruder, who was shot and incapacitated while resisting arrest after police arrived.^[6][7]

During the 2011 Cairo Israeli embassy attack, rioters forcefully entered the Israeli embassy in Cairo. During the attack the eight-person Israeli diplomatic staff was kept safe and separated from the rioters by the steel door of the safe room in which they had taken refuge. They were rescued by Egyptian commandos and flown out of Egypt with their families. ^[8]

See also[link]

• Bomb shelter
• Blast shelter
• Fallout shelter
• Panic Room (film)
• Retreat (survivalism)
• Storm cellar
• Merkhav Mugan

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• The Secure Home, Joel Skousen, Swift Learning Resources; 3rd ed, 1999 (ISBN 1-56861-055-6)

A typical home safe

Hotel safe

A safe (also called strongbox, coffer or kist) is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or damage. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal (such as steel) or formed out of plastic through blow molding. A less secure version (only suitable for petty cash) is usually called a cash-box.

History[link]

This section requires expansion.

The Chubb Building, Fryer Street, in Wolverhampton

In 1835, English inventors, Charles Chubb and Jeremiah Chubb in Wolverhampton, England, received a patent for a burglar-resisting safe and began a production of safes.[1]. The Chubb brothers had produced locks since 1818. Chubb Locks was an independent company until 2000 when it was sold to Assa Abloy.

On November 2, 1886, African American inventor Henry Brown patented a "receptacle for storing and preserving papers." The container was fire retardant and accident resistant as it was made from forged metal. The box was able to be safely secured with a lock and key and also able to maintain organization by offering different slots to organize important papers.^[1][2]

Specifications[link]

Specifications for safes include some or all of the following parameters:

• Burglar-resistance
• Fire-resistance
• Environmental resistance (e.g., to water or dust)
• Type of lock (e.g., combination, key, time lock, electronic locking)
• Location (e.g., wall safe, floor safe)
• Smart safes as part of an automated cash handling system

It is often possible to open a safe without access to the key or knowledge of the combination; this activity is known as safe-cracking and is a popular theme in heist films.

A diversion safe, or hidden safe, is a safe that is made from an otherwise ordinary object such as a book, a candle, a can, or even a wall outlet plug. Valuables are placed in these hidden safes, which are themselves placed inconspicuously (for example, a book would be placed on a book shelf).

Strongbox multiple locking mechanism

Fire resistant record protection equipment consists of self-contained devices that incorporate insulated bodies, doors, drawers or lids, or non-rated multi-drawer devices housing individually rated containers that contain one or more inner compartments for storage of records. These devices are intended to provide protection to one or more types of records as evidenced by the assigned Class rating or ratings; Class 350 for paper, Class 150 for microfilm, microfiche other and photographic film and Class 125 for magnetic media and hard drives.

These types of enclosures can be rated for periods of ½, 1, 2 and 4 hour durations.

In addition, these enclosures may be rated for their impact resistance, should the safe fall a number of feet to a lower level or have debris fall upon it during a fire.

Burglary resistant safes are rated as to their resistance to the type of tools to be used in their attack and also the duration of the attack.

The attack durations are for periods of 15 min., 30 min. and 60 min.

Safes can also contain hardware that automatically dispenses cash or validates bills as part of an automated cash handling system.

Room-sized fireproof vaults[link]

For larger volumes of heat-sensitive materials, a modular room-sized vault is much more economical than purchasing and storing many fire rated safes. Typically these room-sized vaults are utilized by corporations, government agencies and off-site storage service firms. Fireproof vaults are rated up to Class 125-4 Hour for large data storage applications. These vaults utilize ceramic fiber, a high temperature industrial insulating material, as the core of their modular panel system. All components of the vault, not just the walls and roof panels, must be Class 125 rated to achieve that overall rating for the vault. This includes the door assembly (a double door is needed since there is no single Class 125 vault door available), cable penetrations, coolant line penetrations (for split HVAC systems), and air duct penetrations.

There are also Class 150 applications (such as microfilm) and Class 350 vaults for protecting valuable paper documents. Like the data-rated (Class 125) structures, these vault systems employ ceramic fiber insulation and components rated to meet or exceed the required level of protection.

In recent years room-sized Class 125 vaults have been installed to protect entire data centers. As data storage technologies migrate from tape-based storage methods to hard drives, this trend is likely to continue.

Fire-resistant safes[link]

A fire-resistant safe is a type of safe that is designed to protect its contents from high temperatures or actual fire. Fire resistant safes are usually rated by the amount of time they can withstand the extreme temperatures a fire produces, while not exceeding a set internal temperature, e.g., less than 350 °F (177 °C) over 30 minutes. Models are typically available between half-hour and four-hour durations.

In the UK the BS EN-1047 standard is set aside for data and document safes to determine their ability to withstand prolonged intense heat and impact damage.

• Document safes are designed to maintain an internal temperature no greater than 177 °C (351 °F) while in a constantly heated environment in excess of 1,000 °C (1,830 °F).
• Data safes are designed to maintain an internal temperature no greater than 55 °C (131 °F) while in a constantly heated environment in excess of 1,000 °C (1,830 °F).

These conditions are maintained for the duration of the test. This is usually at least 30 minutes but can extend to many hours depending on grade. Both kinds of safe are also tested for impact by dropping from a set height onto a solid surface and then tested for fire survivability once again.^[3]

In the USA, both the writing of standards for fire-resistance and the actual testing of safes is performed by Underwriters Laboratories.

An in-floor safe installed in a concrete floor is very resistant to fire. However, not all floor safes are watertight and will often fill with water from fire hoses, therefore everything stored inside should be placed in either double zip lock bags, dry bags, or sealed plastic containers.

Wall safes[link]

Wall safes are designed to provide hidden protection for documents and miscellaneous valuables. Adjustable depth allows the maximization of usable space when installed in different wall thicknesses. Some wall safes offer pry resistant recessed door with concealed hinges for anti-theft protection. A painting can be hung over a wall safe to conceal it.

Jewellery safes[link]

Jewellery safes are burglary and fire safes made specifically to house jewellery and valuables. These high end safes are typically manufactured with interior jewellery chests of fine woods and fabric liners with a range of organizational configurations.

UL certification for safes[link]

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) testing certifications for safes are known to be the some of the most rigorous and most respected in the world. They are only matched by B.T.U/V.D.M.A. certifications (Germany). J.I.S. (Japan) and CSTB (France) preheat the oven with the safe inside until the temperature reaches the desired setting (as opposed to a sustained temperature of the rating), then the safe is cooled artificially (as opposed to naturally). Also, J.I.S. and CSTB only drop their safes from 13-15 feet (as opposed to 30). Rarely are safes dropped 15 feet (4.6 m) or more and they are usually artificially cooled by the fire department. UL also runs an indirect explosion test on all safes. Additionally UL-768 certifies the combination lock against tampering. UL-140 certifies a relocking mechanism that will permanently lock the safe bolts, in case an electronic lock fails or a UL-768 rated lock is compromised.

Class 125[link]

The safe sustains an internal atmosphere of 125 °F (52 °C) and 80% humidity. This class was introduced with the emergence of floppy disks. The safes are tested with only non-paper media, but are clearly sufficient to hold paper. New, more durable computer media, such as data on compact disks crystallize at 350 °F (177 °C),^[4] which make this type of safe overly-sufficient to store these media.

However, Underwriters Laboratories have not tested whether data on Blu-ray disks, DVDs or CDs are altered during testing. They have just tested floppy disks, which are not a common storage medium these days.

An added benefit of this safe is that it is waterproof due to a gasket on the door and the label will state this. These class ratings are used in conjunction with hour ratings such as: ½, 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Class 150[link]

The safe sustains an internal atmosphere less than 150 °F (66 °C) and 85% humidity. This class was introduced with the emergence of computer data tapes or magnetic reel-to-reel tapes. UL tests this with paper and non-paper articles. This safe is also sufficient in storing some optical media, such as compact disks. Cases can be purchased that will meet Class 125, if they are placed inside a Class 150 safe. Some may be waterproof due to a gasket on the door and the label will state this. These class ratings are used in conjunction with hour ratings such as: ½, 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Class 350[link]

The safe sustains an internal atmosphere of less than 350 °F (177 °C) and 85% humidity. This is the most basic of U.L. tests and specifically tests for the storage of paper. The ignition point of paper is 450 °F (232 °C), so this safe is sufficient for storage of paper. Cases can be purchased that will meet Class 125, if they are placed inside a Class 350 safe. These class ratings are used in conjunction with hour ratings such as: ½, 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Class TL-15[link]

This is a combination locked safe that offers limited protection against combinations of common mechanical and electrical tools. The safe will resist abuse for 15 minutes from tools such as hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or electric tools, grinding points, carbide drills and devices that apply pressure.

Class TL-30[link]

This is a combination locked safe that offers moderate protection against combinations of mechanical and electrical tools. The safe will resist abuse for 30 minutes from tools such as hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or electrical tools, grinding points, carbide drills, devices that apply pressure, cutting wheels and power saws.

Class TL-40[link]

This is a combination locked safe that offers moderate protection against combinations of mechanical and electrical tools. The safe will resist abuse for 40 minutes from tools such as hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or electrical tools, grinding points, carbide drills, devices that apply pressure, cutting wheels and power saws.

Class TRTL-30[link]

This is a combination locked safe that offers high protection against combinations of mechanical, electrical, and cutting tools. The safe will resist abuse for 30 minutes from tools such as hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or electrical tools, grinding points, carbide drills, devices that apply pressure, cutting wheels, power saws, impact tools and, in addition, can withstand an oxy-fuel welding and cutting torch (tested gas limited to 1,000 cubic feet (28 m³) combined total oxygen and fuel gas.)

Class TRTL-60[link]

This class will withstand the same assaults as Class TRTL-30 for 60 minutes.

Class TXTL-60[link]

This class meets all the requirements for Class TRTL-60 and, in addition, can withstand high explosives such as nitroglycerin or equivalent to not more than 4 ounces (110 g) of nitroglycerin in one charge (entire test must not use more explosive than that equivalent to 8 ounces (230 g) of nitroglycerin).

In cartoons[link]

Safes have become commonplace in cartoons, especially Looney Tunes, as an item to fall upon a character. It acts as an alternative to an anvil or piano.

See also[link]

Look up safe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Access control
• Concealment device, an inconspicuous object used to hide things
• Gun safe
• Lock, a mechanical fastening device
• Manual override, opening a safe without cracking it
• Physical security
• Safe-cracking, opening a safe without the combination
• Safe deposit box, a lightweight safe
• Security
• Safe room
• Strongroom, a bank vault
• Time-delay combination locks

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Locks, Safes, and Security: An International Police Reference, published by Charles Thomas Publishers, Springfield, Illinois, United States. (2000) ISBN 0-398-07079-2.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

A youth hostel room in Japan

A room is any distinguishable space within a structure. Usually, a room is separated from other spaces or passageways by interior walls; moreover, it is separated from outdoor areas by an exterior wall, sometimes with a door. Historically the use of rooms dates at least to early Minoan cultures about 2200 BC, where excavations on Santorini, Greece at Akrotiri reveal clearly defined rooms within certain structures.^[1]

Historical room types[link]

A living room

In early structures, diverse room types could be identified to include bedrooms, kitchens, bathing rooms, reception rooms, and other specialized uses. The aforementioned Akrotiri excavations reveal rooms sometimes built above other rooms connected by staircases, bathrooms with alabaster appliances such as washbasins, bathing tubs, and toilets, all connected to an elaborate twin plumbing systems of ceramic pipes for cold and hot water separately.^[1] Ancient Rome manifested very complex building forms with a variety of room types, including some of the earliest examples of rooms for indoor bathing. The Anasazi civilization also had an early complex development of room structures, probably the oldest in North America, while the Maya of Central America had very advanced room configurations as early as several hundred AD. By at least the early Han Dynasty in China (e.g. approximately 200 BC), complex multi-level building forms emerged, particularly for religious and public purposes; these designs featured many roomed structures and included vertical connections of rooms.

Box-room[link]

A hospital room

Many houses are built to contain a box-room (box room or boxroom) that is easily identifiable, being smaller than the others. The small size of these rooms limits their use, and they tend to be used as a small single bedroom, small child's bedroom, or as a storage room. Other box rooms may house a live-in domestic worker.

Traditionally, and often seen in country houses and larger suburban houses up until the 1930s in Britain, the box room was literally for the storage of boxes, trunks, portmanteaux, and the like, rather than for bedroom use.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Entryway
• Great hall
• Room number

Notes[link]