What is LPS Issue 7?
When specifying or installing a certified security product, it helps to understand what an accreditation offers and how it will affect the property.
Of the many independent certification bodies, the Loss Prevention Certification Board (known as LPCB) is one of the most established. Globally recognised, it is supported by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) from the UK HQ. As the leading centre for product testing for both security and fire products, LPCB offer over 70 standards.
Security standard LPS 1175 is concerned specifically with ‘intruder resistant building components’. It provides an industry standard for products including security enclosures, barriers, doors and of course shutters.
LPS (or Loss Prevention Standard) 1175 focuses on a matrix of deterring intruders, detecting and delaying attackers and responding to an incident.
Issue 7 of the LPS 1175 standard
LPS 1175 Issue 7 was published back in 2015. At the time of its publication, it was the most substantial revision of the standard to date. It has since provided manufacturers, specifiers, architects and many more a benchmark for security products.
Using different tool kits and different attack durations to categorise a product’s security performance, the standard offers 8 different security ratings. These SRs somewhat represent a different threat scenario. As the tool kits and attack duration goes up, so does the SR.
The table below shows the security rating to be a combination of tool category, maximum attack time and maximum total attack duration.
The maximum attack time as seen above is how long the attacker can be physically attacking the product. The maximum total attack duration is the total time spent attacking the product through-out the test.
There are two main reasons why LPS 1175 Issue 7 specifies this as so.
- This allows time to swap out tools, adjust the attack position, etc.
- In real life, an attacker is likely to use a more serious tool and be more committed to the attack. More time will be spent attempting a break-in before the task is abandoned.
Testing is a long process, with only 5% of products successfully achieve certification. Used this grading scale, the ratings can imitate various risk scenarios and provide a basis for specifying a security product.
What happens to Issue 7 when Issue 8 lands?
As of January 2019, the newest revision of LPS 1175, Issue 8, will come into effect. Every new security product that achieves certification to LPS 1175 will be certified to the new revision.
Products certified to previous revisions do not lose their certification, nor does their certification become outdated.