n recent days we have observed some concerns on vault security. Vaults of some banks are successfully attacked by bank robbers. This created a scope to discuss certain things about vault security which many of us are ignorant.

First thing we need to understand that no vault can provide you absolute protection. It can sustain attacks for a specific period of time as per their rating. Therefore a vault needs to provide protection from fire or attacks of bank robbers for desired period of time within which a spate mechanism must be activated to detect the attack and response appropriately. In western country there are organizations which test vault and provide rating. For example there is a testing company named ‘Underwriters Laboratory” (UL) who basically rates various types of safe and vault and label them accordingly.

Typically vaults are situated at or below ground level so they do not add to the stresses of the structure housing them. If a vault must be built on the upper stories of a building, additional care must be taken to avoid building collapse which should be designed by proper architect. Doors of such vaults are normally 6 inch thick, and they may be as much as 24 inches thick where for better protection. Because these doors present a formidable obstacle to any criminal, an attack will usually be directed at the walls, ceiling, or floor, which must for that reason match the strength of the door. As a rule, these surfaces should be twice as thick as the door and never less than 12 inches thick.

If possible a vault should be surrounded by narrow corridorsthat will permit inspection of the exterior wall of the vault but the corridor will be sufficiently narrow to discourage the use of heavy drilling or cutting equipment by attackers. It is important that there are no power outlets anywhere in the close vicinity of the vault; such outlet may help the attacker to use their tools against the vault.

In a vault room there are practices to keep safes which are generally of two types; Record safes and money safes. Record safes are designed as fire resistant while money safes are burglar resistant. A record safe with an underwriter laboratory (UL) rating of 350-4 can withstand exterior temperature building to 2000*F for 4 hours without permitting the interior temperature to rise above 350*F.

Burglar resistant safes are nothing more than very heavy metal boxes without wheels, which offer varying degrees of protection against many forms of attack. A safe having weight of 750 pound with a UL rating of TL 15 means, it can withstand attack by hand tool for only 15 minutes. Likewise there are different types of rating like TRTL 30 means the safe can withstand attacks by torch and tool for 30 minutes. A safe less than 750 pounds of weight must be chained with the floor wall.

As per underwriter laboratory rating vaults are classified as UL 1, UL 2 , UL 3. UL 1 generally provide protection for 30 minutes while UL 2 provides 1 hour and UL 3 provides 2 hours of protection from a dedicated attackers who are using torch, tools, explosives and modern cutting materials.

One must understand that a vault its cannot provide protection from dedicated and determined attackers for a prolonged period of time. Therefore a security counter measure deign, target hardening, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), proper alarm system, proper CCTV system, proper security policy and procedures and proper response mechanism need to be integrated to keep a vault safe from a dedicated attackers.

News:Dhaka Tribune/01-Feb-2014