Cylinder Snapping
28th February 2012

Dear Tony

I read with interest your leader last week about the issue of cylinder snapping as highlighted by West Yorkshire Police. The comments you printed from Chief Superintendent Paul Money focused on the fact we need better and stronger locks that can resist attack, but what the piece failed to acknowledge is that the industry’s security standards were revised to take account of this several years ago. PAS24:1999 was revised to include section A.11 Security hardware and cylinder test, which checked for vulnerability in areas including snapping. PAS 24:2007 added additional vulnerability checks by the MLA for bumping and PAS24:2011 added additional tools relating to snapping. So the industry standard for security has not only had this issue covered since 1999, it has continued to evolve to take into account new potential methods of attack. There are also a number of product solutions to this problem that have been available for a number of years. So why are there still instances of this particular type of break in happening? Unfortunately the answer lies with the companies that insist on supplying substandard products.

We all know the window and door industry doesn’t have the best reputation among consumers, but most of us also know where this reputation comes from. There continues to be a minority of companies that seem to be competing with each other in a race to the bottom of the pile. These retailers are only concerned with slashing prices to undercut the competition and are happy to do that at the expense of quality and customer service. They pay no attention to the ethos of ‘fit for purpose’ and as a result cut corners wherever they can. It’s a shame that yet again the few are making it even more difficult for the many to raise industry standards.

Of course we shouldn’t rest on our laurels and Securistyle is always working closely with industry bodies and other suppliers to make our products and the standards that govern them better and more stringent, but let’s not take the blame for the fact that there are still some unscrupulous companies out there that will always insist on supplying cheap and nasty alternatives.

Yours sincerely

Ken Evans
National Specification Manager, Securistyle