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The intent of the Safe
Room is to provide short-term protection for the occupants until
help arrives or the attackers leave the scene. In extreme,
hostage type scenarios, the Safe Room may be required for an
extended period of time. Safe-Panic room can also be used as a
vault to store valuable documents, weapons, jewelry etc. It can
be built Fire-proof, Bullet-proof or both.
Typically
Safe-Panic rooms are fitted with warning devices that
communicate with persons outside the Safe room or threatened
building. Upon entering the Safe Room, the occupant triggers an
alarm, or phones the police or a security agent. Audible alarms
may alert the intruders to the fact that the situation is known
to security forces. Consequently, unless these alarms were
disabled prior to the assault, the attacker knows that he has a
limited time to complete his mission.
Design criteria.
As with all construction, the design
of a Safe Room responds to particular criteria, in this case
relating to the level of risk that is anticipated. The design
must also respond to such practical matters as costs and
available space. Clearly there may be a difference between
the design of a Safe Room for an important political leader
and that of an individual who may fear some unspecified threat.
A modest Safe Room may be resistant to handguns and physical
attack only, whereas a more elaborate Safe Room may be designed
to resist greater ballistic forces as well as chemicals and
gaseous matter.
Location for the Safe Room.
Clearly it is
essential that the targeted person can quickly get to the Safe
Room at the time of the threat. Ideally, once the intruder's
presence has been detected, he should be able to do so without
having to confront or show himself to his attackers. Multiple
routes to a Safe Room - Panic Room are, therefore, desirable,
though not always practical.
People are usually
reluctant to give up prime spaces in their homes for this
particular use and often suggest cellars or basements for this
purpose. However, in a multi-story building such as a townhouse
or brownstone, Basement Safe Room may become inaccessible to a
resident on an upper floor, if the attackers breach the building
at the ground floor. The occupant, in this case, would have to
pass the intruders on the stairs, in order to get to the Safe
Room below. Conversely, at attic Safe Room may not be ideal in
cases where the intruders enter via the roof.
Where space is not an
issue ,,concealed" Safe Rooms offer an additional barrier
to detection of the room's occupant. A concealed Safe Room -
Panic Room might be located behind a paneled wall, one panel
which operates on concealed hinges giving access to the
protected area on the opposite side. In such cases, it is
important to design the panel such that no hinges, locks or
other operating hardware are visible from the outside.
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