Security Cupboards

"Security cupboard" covers two products that solve opposite problems, and getting the distinction right at the specification stage saves a great deal of trouble later. One kind protects the contents from people. The other protects people from the contents. Both are lockable steel cupboards; they are not interchangeable.

All three ranges here share the same four sizes and the same 460 mm depth, so whichever you choose it takes the same wall run and the same floor area.

Range one: the mesh security cupboard

The GPC Security Cupboard (SC120946, SC121246, SC180946, SC181246) is built from 1.5 mm powder-coated mild mesh in a welded all-mesh structure, with adjustable powder-coated shelves. It is for high-value equipment and materials — test kit, power tools, instruments, controlled consumables.

The mesh construction is worth thinking about honestly, because it is unusual and it cuts both ways. You can see into it. That makes stock checks quick, lets a supervisor confirm at a glance that something has been put back, and keeps the cupboard ventilated. It also means the contents are on display. Where the risk is opportunist removal by people who already have legitimate access to the area, a mesh cupboard is excellent — it denies access without pretending the contents are secret. Where the risk is a stranger deciding what is worth taking, a solid-door cupboard from our industrial cupboards range is the better choice, because it does not advertise.

Range two: the COSHH and hazardous substance security cupboards

The CoSHH Security Cupboards (CSSC series) and Hazardous Substance Security Cupboards (HSSC series) are a different build: welded 1.5 mm steel with an anti-pick locking mechanism, specified for the separate storage of hazardous substances that the COSHH regulations require. Their defining features are containment features, not security ones:

• Adjustable spill-retaining galvanised shelves — each shelf holds its own spill rather than passing it down to the one below.
• Integral liquid-tight sump in the base, so a container that fails overnight is contained rather than crossing the floor.
• Regulation labels enclosed, to be fitted by the customer to suit the substances actually stored.
• Reaction to Fire Classification EN 13501-1.

What both builds share

Across all three ranges the forced-entry detail is the same, and it is the part worth paying for:

• Seven-lever safe lock — a substantially different proposition from the wafer or cam locks fitted to general office storage.
• Full-length heavy-duty hinges with concealed fixings, specifically to prevent forced entry at the hinge side. A cupboard with a good lock and exposed hinge pins is a cupboard with one good side.
• Welded all-steel or all-mesh structure rather than folded-and-riveted panels.
• Germ Guard Active Technology anti-bacterial powder coating.

Sizes

The sizing decision is straightforward once you notice that the depth never changes. 1200 mm high is a bench-height or under-shelf cupboard, and everything in it is reachable without stretching. 1800 mm high is a standing full-height cupboard and gives roughly half as much shelf area again in the same footprint — which is why, where floor space is the constraint rather than reach, the taller unit is almost always the better buy. The 900 mm and 1200 mm widths are about how much runs along the wall, not how much fits.

For a hazardous cupboard there is a further constraint the size table cannot show: the sump has to hold enough. Our guide to COSHH cabinet sizes and capacities works through how the containment requirement, not the shelf space, usually sets the size you need.

Choosing between them

Ask what the cupboard is being bought to stop.

• Things walking — mesh security cupboard, or a solid-door industrial cupboard if you also want the contents out of sight.
• A substance harming someone, or a spill spreading — the COSHH or hazardous substance cupboard, with the sump and spill-retaining shelves.
• Both, for the same items — the COSHH and hazardous ranges carry the same seven-lever lock and concealed-fixing hinges as the security range, so they do both jobs. The mesh cupboard does not do the containment job at all.

Where to go next

For the wider steel cupboard range see industrial cupboards; for the full chemical storage range including flammables see hazardous storage, COSHH cabinets and flammable cabinets. For workshop tool storage rather than secure stock storage, see tool cupboards.

Useful background reading: COSHH cabinet requirements, flammable storage cabinet versus COSHH cabinet, choosing steel cupboards for industry and steel storage cupboards versus lockers.