The print edition of Professional Security magazine carries news of the Association of Burglary Insurance Surveyors each month.
A recent lecture to the London group of the Association of Burglary Insurance Surveyors represented something of a first for the Association of British Insurers meeting rooms in Gresham Street, London EC2. The talk by Philip Cooper, Marketing Manager of SWS UK, titled ?Setting New Standards with Physical Security?, focused on the Loss Prevention Council test standard 1175 and how it applies to retractable security gates and shutters. Of equal importance, once a product has been tested and approved, is that it is specified on appropriate applications and fitted correctly. Peter Horsely of Britannia Security Shutters (an approved installer of SWS UK?s products) led the second half of the lecture, which climaxed in an attack test on a collapsible gate and shutter. Philip began the evening by highlighting the importance of assessing product performance through independent product testing. The introduction of LPS 1175 in the mid 1990s has enabled such a test regime to be developed on certain physical security products. LPS 1175 ?… describes the tests for classifying the burglary resistance to physical attack of building components?. The test is based around three criteria: product performance and construction; ongoing product conformity; and the manufacturer?s quality management system to ISO 9000. The testing regime is made up of: full access to technical drawings; trial / practice attacks; soft body impact test; static load tests; and manual intervention tests. LPS 1175 also specifies Security Rating Classifications (SRCs). These range from one to six depending on resistance to attack: from an opportunist using bodily force and minimal tools to a professional attempt at forced entry into high-value storage areas. Security gates and shutters fall into the lower classifications, mainly SRC1 and SRC2. Once a product has received approval, the Loss Prevention Council continues to police installations, thus ensuring the standard continues to be met in practice. The dramatic attack tests to SRC1 on a collapsible security gate and shutter involved much physical commotion with various lethal-looking metal components almost side-swiping ABI?s elegant, inlaid wall panelling and ceiling! This in turn caused some consternation on the part of ABIS officials responsible for the association?s liability insurance, but thankfully no damage was done. However, anyone trying to conduct a meeting in an adjacent office must have thought World War Three had broken out! No-one present could fail to have been impressed by the way these products withstood the brute force of the attack and the exercise was a demonstration of the value of product testing to LPS 1175. Nothing beats being able to attest to the strength of such products as an eyewitness to such testing when faced with a sceptical client!
