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What CEN Grade Means

What is CEN Grade?

Standards surround our everyday lives. They are a staple in making our lives safer, simpler and more comfortable. They ensure the products we use are safe and reliable, even the homes we live in and the personal data we use every day are protected by some sort of standardisation.

We can only appreciate the standards of something when we find it missing, this is especially the case for our padlocks and security solutions and this is where CEN comes in.

CEN is a body of European nations that have come together and formed a consensus on what they all agree to be the best practice for grading, developing and publishing the standard of padlocks available to you.

 

Padlock security Explained

CEN grades each padlock from 1 to 6. These range from low security applications such as lockers and toolboxes to high security applications such as locking of freight containers and high value goods. CEN Grade 6 padlocks are very rare and as such most companies would recommend a grade of 3 to 5 for high security applications.

  • Grade 6 – Maximum Security
  • Grade 5 – Extra High Security
  • Grade 4 – High Security
  • Grade 3 – Medium to High Security
  • Grade 2 – Standard Security
  • Grade 1 – Low Security

Since the tests are so stringent a lock only needs to fail one of the criteria in the grade to be reduced down. This means that a padlock may perform like a CEN Grade 6 padlock but if it fails one of the tests shown below it will be reduced down a grade.

Security Grades According To The Draft European CEN Standards
Requirements 1 2 3 4 5 6
Minumum Number Of Key Differs 300 1000 2500 5000 10000
Pulling Of Shackle/Staple 674 1124 3372 6744 15736 22481 IBF
3 5 15 30 70 100 kN
Twisting Of Shackle/Staple 354 886 1771 3985 10627 22140 Ib-in
40 100 200 450 1200 2500 Nm
Cutting Of Shackle/Staple 1349 3372 5620 7868 15737 22481 IBF
6 15 25 35 70 100 kN

Blow on Shackle/Staple

(weight t / g x height/mm)

1250x800 3050x1000 6550x1400 7150x1500 x 5 Times
Test Temperature -20 C  -20 C  -40 C

Blow On Lock Body

(weight / g x height / mm)

1250x800 3050x1000 6550x1400 7150x1500 x5 Times
Test Temperature  -20 C -20 C -40 C  -40 C
Load On Cylinder Plug Or Locking Mechanism 899 1124 2248 3372 IBF
4 5 10 15 kN
Drilling 2 4 8 Mins
Sawing 2 4 8 Mins
Torque Resistance Of Cylinder Plug 44 133 177 266 Ib-in
5 15 20 30 Nm