Security expert urges tougher key safe standards as social media-fuelled urban exploration rises
The increasing popularity of urban exploration videos on social media is placing greater pressure on property owners to protect vacant and temporarily unoccupied buildings, according to a leading site security expert.
With thousands of videos showcasing explorers gaining access to abandoned factories, empty offices and derelict properties attracting millions of views online, concerns are growing over the ease with which some sites can be accessed. Industry specialists are now urging organisations responsible for vacant properties to review their security arrangements and ensure access points, keys and entry systems are adequately protected.
Shane Hall, who has spent years helping secure empty commercial and residential properties across the UK, believes robust key management should form a critical part of any vacant property protection strategy. He is calling for higher standards across the industry, warning that many key storage products fail to provide the level of security required to withstand determined attempts at unauthorised access.
Shane Hall has a wealth of site security experience, having worked in the industry for many years, and sees first-hand the lengths people will go to compromise an empty site or building. He says there is a number of threats, but that the rising tide of urban explorers, who post videos on TikTok and YouTube of themselves in vacant, derelict or disused locations, is posing a new challenge to site security companies.
“Urban explorers are very curious people who want to explore an empty site, building or land and, more often than not, film it for social media,” he said. “But the impact of urban exploration is obviously something that needs to be stopped.”
ark Tamo maximum security key safe built to withstand attacks and prevent breaches, keeping keys secure at remote sites.
While key safes cannot stop this trend for adventure, often referred to as ‘urbex’, Shane believes they can be part of the solution by making unlawful entry to an empty site much more problematic. And, as a senior employee at SafeSite Facilities, it was our ark Tamo key safe – which has been recognised with a King’s Award for innovation - that Shane recommended to the company’s clients. “We wanted a robust, mechanical key safe that would look like a deterrent and would act like a deterrent,” Shane said.
“A product that provided maximum security storage of keys at the point of need, enabling easy access for the owner and other authorised users, and disabling access for unwanted intruders.“The ark Tamo does just that and is incredibly popular with operatives who find installing it really easy. They can see it’s a really good product. It’s the standout and has attack testing to back it up.”
SafeSite Facilities use the ark Tamo, which is designed to improve building security and is proven to reduce crime, to help secure empty commercial and residential properties around the country on behalf of property managers, local councils, social housing organisations, pub groups and private landlords.
The ark Tamo was the world’s first mechanical key safe to achieve the LPS1175 Issue 8 A10 security rating from the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) and continues to be an industry benchmark.
“They have had zero issues with it and a lot of very happy and reassured customers,” Shane added.“A solid key safe – rather than a flimsy key box – is an integral element of a site’s security arrangement because it can tick off three of the four Ds – deterrent, delay and deny.
“Not all products can achieve this level of defence against urban explorers and other unauthorised intruders because not all of them have been stringently tested.
“Considering how expensive some empty properties are, and the cost to maintain them, the key safes used to keep them secure should be independently attack tested.
“Too many key boxes out there are easy to get into and penetrate. There should be a drive for better industry standards.“Property owners want confidence that, if you’re going to hang the key to a front door right outside the property, it’s going to be secure; otherwise what’s the point? They need confidence that a site is protected.”
Shane recommends mechanical key safes, rather than electrical solutions, because of the added level of reliability they can offer.
He said: “The Managing Director at SafeSite Facilities told me mechanical is the only way to go and I am very much in agreement.
“They’re so much more reliable and not at the mercy of a faltering battery or dodgy internet connection.”A robust and mechanical key safe is, Shane says, a pathfinder to operational efficiency for property owners and facilities managers and offers peace of mind to their clients.
“At SafeSite Facilities, I found a standout key safe – the ark Tamo - that we could hire and sell to property owners around the country,” he said.
“As a result, we saw fewer emails about keys, creating less headaches, less email traffic and fewer panicked phone calls about contractors accessing sites.”
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