46 • HARDWARE&SECURITY
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The Nation’s home security
howlers revealed
»»TO MARK OCTOBER’S
National Home Security Month
and the commencement
of the government’s new
building security regulation
on the 1st October
(Document Q), the UK’s
leading window and door
hardware manufacturer,
Winlock Security, conducted
a nationwide survey to
reveal the UK’s biggest home
security howlers.
NEW STANDARDS
Since 1st October 2016, the
government’s new legislation
requires that all ground
floor or accessible doors
and windows on new build
residential dwellings must
be made to a design that has
been independently tested to
the latest security standard
(PAS024).
But where does that leave
the millions of doors and
windows already on the
market or in situ? “The vast
majority of existing windows
and doors wouldn’t meet the
latest new build standard,”
said Alan Parker, Managing
Director of Winlock Security.
“Our estimate would be that
over 90% of existing doors and
windows wouldn’t meet the
spec.”
Worrying? Perhaps more
concerning is news that almost
30% of burglaries are ‘walkin’ offences committed by
opportunists taking advantage
of properties left unsecured.
“It shouldn’t take Sherlock
to explain that even where
a door meets the highest
level of security standard,
if you forget to close it, it’s
utterly redundant,” continued
Parker.
INSTALLATION ISSUES
Winlock Security site
technicians also reported
instances of home security sins
being committed such as door
locks being fitted the wrong way
around, so the outside behaves
as the inside, or the wrong
hand latch being used, so that
the latch doesn’t actually do
anything or offer any security.
‘thankfully these
home security
sins are few and
far between’
COMMON MISTAKES
Winlock Security, which
rigorously and regularly tests
all of its products in-house
to ensure they are ‘intruderproof’, carried out a survey of
754 people living in the UK
to discover which were the
nation’s most common home
security howlers.
33% of the nation have
been burgled and of those
1 in 3 were unlucky enough
to have been targeted more
than once. Yet 49% of the
UK admitted to common
mistakes such as leaving
the house keys in the front
door (24% on more than one
occasion) and more than 1 in
10 of respondents regularly
hide their spare door key
under a plant pot or door mat,
rather than in a secure place
or with a neighbour.
Over a third of Brits could
be forgiven for accidentally
forgetting to lock their front
door, but it seems 7% are
very trusting of their fellow
man, deliberately leaving an
exterior door open or unlocked
when they leave the house.
Surprisingly half of all people
surveyed also leave windows
open when they go out, against
official crime prevention
advice stating “that you should
lock your doors and windows
every time you leave the
house, even when you’re just
out in the garden.”
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | NOV/DEC 2016
Some of the worst examples
they had witnessed include
door hinges accessible from the
outside where hinge pins can
be taken out in seconds, and the
entire door taken off in less than
a minute, or where windows
can’t be closed and so held shut
with just a piece of string.
“Thankfully these home
security sins are few and far
between and the general
standard of door and window
installation is extremely high,”
reassured Alan Parker.
But even the most secure
installation is rendered pointless
if your keys are left in the front
door!
Established in 1987 in Telford,
Shropshire, Winlock Security
Ltd is the only remaining
volume manufacturer of
window handles in the UK. It is
a leading supplier of innovative
door and window hardware
including timber, aluminium,
PVCu and social housing
product ranges to UK and
European fabricators.
www.winlock.co.uk,
email: [email protected]