Glyn Hauser, R&D Senior Group Manager at JELD-WEN UK, looks at how installers can play a lead role in helping to improve standards when it comes to access security.
Despite the recent emergence of home security technology, such as CCTV and video doorbells, the risk of threats against UK homes and properties continues to be a real concern. According to the latest UK Government statistics, there were 191,023 domestic burglaries in England and Wales during the year ending March 2023, equating to more than 500 a day. Furthermore, more than half of burglaries occur when somebody is in the house – which suggests thieves are becoming more brazen in their attempts to enter and steal from people’s homes. Add to the equation a deepening cost-of-living crisis and the likelihood that it will lead to an increased wave of crime, and it becomes clear that we need to do more to ensure greater protection than ever before.
This is, arguably, even more important for those living in multi-occupancy buildings and social housing, who are more likely to be a victim of a burglary. This was demonstrated in our research (One Poll survey of 1,000 social housing tenants, conducted September 2023) which found that almost a half of all social housing tenants said they believed that crime was increasing in their area.
Along with promoting greater security awareness among property developers, providing better training and education for landlords, and ensuring best practice approaches by contractors, we believe that a significant part of the answer lies in improving the standards of a flat entrance door – the property’s first line of defence.
First line of defence
As every security professional will know, a dwelling’s entrance door is more than just an entrance into their home. It actually plays a key role in the safety of a property by helping to keeps unwanted visitors away. Considering that intruders will most likely try to enter a dwelling through the front door and that over half of them would give up after approximately one minute of trying5, a secure entrance doorset can make all the difference.
Procuring an accredited and certified doorset that has been designed to meet the rigorous standards of enhanced security testing and performance, as defined by the UK police security initiative, Secured by Design (SBD), offers one of the most effective means of reducing this risk. To obtain SBD accreditation, entrance doorsets must be dual-certified, providing a high level of protection not only against break ins, but also from fire and smoke, which goes beyond current Building Regulations.
This will ensure that, as fire safety standards continue to improve in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, the product can provide peace of mind that it has been tested and certified for fire, smoke and security by third party independent specialists. There is a clear cause for dual certification for those living in multi-occupancy properties, as our research found that 24 pee cent of social housing tenants felt that their entrance door was not secure. A further third (33pc) did not feel adequately protected from the risk of a break-in.
As part of the certification process, a doorset must have gone through a series of rigorous assessments, as part of PAS24. This includes measuring resistance against soft and hard body impact, through to hardware attack and manipulation, and endurance testing. SBD stipulates that testing must be conducted by an independent third-party from a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) authority, and the same party would also test an identical product sample for fire and smoke resistance.
The result is peace of mind for landlords, knowing they have chosen doorsets that have been purposefully designed, manufactured and tested to established security standards through one single provider. For security professionals, it means they can be assured of having advocated the most effective form of physical security for the properties in their care, and are helping to maintain absolute best practice.
In these times of sharpened safety focus, landlords, developers and other commercial customers alike are increasingly turning to security professionals to provide the expert advice and support needed to optimise the security of their properties. While there is no silver bullet solution to the burglary risk, dual-certified SBD-accredited doors are certainly the most secure and safe doors on the market, and offer a prime opportunity to better protect residents and reduce the risk of intruders getting in.
Although this may mean more time spent staying abreast of the latest market developments and innovation, those who go the extra mile to provide up to date consultancy to customers will not only secure a solid reputation for their industry prowess, but will help to improve security standards across the board.
A white paper: ‘Turning the Key Towards Better Security’, launched with SBD calls for dual certification of entrance doorsets as standard; free to download at https://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/security-white-paper.
