--- title: "Safe Storage for the long term: A Head of R&D's view on quality, durability and sustainability" description: Learn how businesses can turn climate ambition into a strong business case by connecting climate risks and transition opportunities with investment decisions. image: https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/hubfs/_primat_mil_053%20(decreased%20size).jpg --- [Skip to the main content.](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/safe-storage-for-the-long-term-a-head-of-rds-view-on-quality-durability-and-sustainability#main-content) [![Gunnebo-SS-logo-RGB](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/hubfs/Gunnebo-SS-logo-RGB.svg "Gunnebo-SS-logo-RGB")](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com) [![Gunnebo-SS-logo-RGB](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/hubfs/Gunnebo-SS-logo-RGB.svg "Gunnebo-SS-logo-RGB")](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com) - [Security Solutions](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/security-solutions) - [Industries](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/Industries) - [Customer cases](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/customer-cases) - [About us](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/about-us/) - [Contact us](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/Contact) - [Insights](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights) - Language - [Polish /](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/pl-pl/insights) - [Italian](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/it-it/insights) - [Spanish](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/es/insights) - [German](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/de-de/insights) - [French](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/fr/insights) Search Toggle Menu Search Toggle Menu - [Security Solutions](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/security-solutions) - [Industries](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/Industries) - [Customer cases](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/customer-cases) - [About us](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/about-us/) - [Contact us](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/en/Contact) - [Insights](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights) - Language - [Polish /](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/pl-pl/insights) - [Italian](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/it-it/insights) - [Spanish](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/es/insights) - [German](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/de-de/insights) - [French](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/fr/insights) [Facebook](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/safe-storage-for-the-long-term-a-head-of-rds-view-on-quality-durability-and-sustainability#0) [Instagram](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/safe-storage-for-the-long-term-a-head-of-rds-view-on-quality-durability-and-sustainability#0) [Linkedin](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/safe-storage-for-the-long-term-a-head-of-rds-view-on-quality-durability-and-sustainability#0) [X](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/safe-storage-for-the-long-term-a-head-of-rds-view-on-quality-durability-and-sustainability#0) [YouTube](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/safe-storage-for-the-long-term-a-head-of-rds-view-on-quality-durability-and-sustainability#0) [Medium](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/safe-storage-for-the-long-term-a-head-of-rds-view-on-quality-durability-and-sustainability#0) 3 min read # Safe Storage for the long term: A Head of R&D's view on quality, durability and sustainability [![Picture of Myriam Bevillon](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/hubfs/Myriam-Bevillon-2025-004-20250910144908.jpg) Myriam Bevillon](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/author/myriam-bevillon) : Oct 27, 2026, 8:05:39 AM [Sustainability](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/tag/sustainability) ![Safe Storage for the long term: A Head of R&D's view on quality, durability and sustainability](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/hubfs/_primat_mil_053%20(decreased%20size).jpg) Long-term safe storage means designing a secure and sustainable solution that stays reliable and serviceable for decades, not simply passing certification at launch. In my experience as Head of R&D, Quality and Sustainability at Gunnebo Safe Storage, the most sustainable safe is usually the one that stays in service the longest. All else being equal, a safe that lasts thirty years and one replaced after ten are not close on lifetime environmental impact, because replacement means new manufacturing, and building a new safe accounts for a large share of the footprint. So durability, quality and sustainability are not three competing goals but one argument. Here is what that looks like in practice. ## 1. Durability starts with materials The durability and security of a safe begin with its materials. Appropriate quality steel, high-performance concrete, and other specific materials, precision locking, and highly resistant coatings all reduce the risk of failure and limit maintenance over a long service life. In R&D, the material decision is rarely about a single "best" material; it is a trade-off between resistance to burglary, fire and explosion, weight, environmental impact, manufacturability, cost, and recyclability. Burglary, fire and explosion resistance are graded by standards, and the strongest trust signal is the certificate proving the product passed the relevant test. ## 2. Designing for reality, not just compliance A certification informs you that a product passed at the time of the test. It says nothing about whether that product will still perform after fifteen years of daily use. So we design for the conditions a safe actually meets over its life: temperature and humidity cycling, repeated locking and unlocking, and long-term mechanical wear. In practice, this means setting durability targets tied to an expected service life, then testing against them rather than against the certification baseline alone. ## 3. Where sustainability actually applies in safe storage solutions The decisions with the greatest environmental impact are made in material selection: prioritising materials with lower emission factors and using less material wherever the required performance allows. The same goes for choosing non-hazardous substances for coatings and finishes and recyclable materials for packaging. Optimising the manufacturing process and the energy it uses also matters, as does designing products to be used for a long time, repaired and recovered rather than scrapped. Sustainability therefore needs to be embedded in these decisions from the very start of the design process. This is where circularity comes into play.   ## 4. Design optimisation: Performance without excess material A good design does not simply meet the required performance. It meets it with the optimum use of materials and resources. Quality engineering helps refine the design so that every component and every quantity of material serves its necessary function, avoiding over-dimensioning while maintaining the required functional, security and compliance performance. Through analysis, calculation, simulation and iterative testing, the design is progressively optimised to deliver that performance with no more material than necessary. Building efficiency into the product this way reduces both resource use and environmental impact.  ## 5. Beyond the product: Serviceability, packaging, logistics and end-of-life Quality and sustainability do not stop at the safe itself. A product designed for serviceability, where a worn lock or handle (or even a whole door) can be replaced instead of the whole unit, stays in service longer and produces less waste. That is a design decision made long before the first service visit.   The same logic extends outward. Packaging can be right-sized to cut transport volume and chosen for recyclability, and a product's weight and dimensions, set at the design stage, influence shipment efficiency.   At end-of-life, steel, which usually has the largest share of a safe's material, is among the most widely recycled materials. Recovery is far easier when components are designed to come apart cleanly.  ## In summary Designed in from the start, taking circularity principles into account, and supported by the right materials, realistic testing and a plan for service and end-of-life, durability, quality and sustainability reinforce one another. The result is a safe storage solution that protects what matters today and holds its value for decades.  ## Questions I foten get ##### What does long-term safe storage mean? It means designing a safe storage product to stay secure, reliable and serviceable over time, rather than only to meet certification at the point of sale. It treats service life as a core design target, not an outcome to hope for.   ##### How does durability relate to sustainability in safe design? Closely, in most cases. The highest environmental cost across a safe's life is usually manufacturing it. A product that lasts and can be serviced tends to have a lower lifetime footprint than a shorter-lived one. Designing for a long service life is therefore one of the more effective sustainability decisions available, though it is not the only one.   ##### Which standards apply to security and sustainability? Burglary, fire and explosion resistance are graded by, among others, EN, UL, and BIS standards and focus on the product performance only. Then, there are many standards addressing different aspects of sustainability (products-process-companies).   The 14000 Environmental management standards family covers among other things, process (ISO 14001), but also product life cycle assessment (14040) and eco-design (14006), three important standards to understand how your process and products impact and prevent/mitigate their effects on the environment, while ISO 59000 focuses on circularity. Then, ISO 26000 is overarching and provides guidelines on the social responsibility of companies.   ##### Is choosing recyclable material enough to make a safe sustainable? Not on its own. Recyclable material helps, but a large lever is service life: a durable safe that lasts decades and is designed for refurbishment and recovery generally outperforms a shorter-lived product made from recyclable material. In practice, it is the combination of materials, serviceability and end-of-life design that determines the real footprint and supports minimising the product impact.  Read more about sustainability at Gunnebo Safe Storage [here](https://www.gunnebosafestorage.com/sustainability/).  - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![From Climate Ambition to Business Case](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/hubfs/Plant-Jakarta-2025-053.jpg)](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/from-climate-ambition-to-business-case?hsLang=en) 1 min read #### [From Climate Ambition to Business Case](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/from-climate-ambition-to-business-case?hsLang=en) ![Picture of Esha Patil](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/hs-fs/hubfs/1686915847694.jpg?width=30&name=1686915847694.jpg) [Esha Patil](https://blog.gunnebosafestorage.com/insights/author/esha-patil) : Oct 5, 2026, 8:08:31 AM What does it take to make climate action decision-useful for business? 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Rising global temperatures, new regulations and... 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