Protecting Bank Vaults: More Questions Emerge Than Answers

In thinking about how to secure a bank’s money against robbers, the first line of action security might probably take is to install a vault. But a vault is no more than a 6-inch-thick steel-and-concrete composite wall between piles of cash and dangerous bank robbers. For the vault to be an effective security countermeasure, a lot of other factors must be taken into account. Then the questions that ramify the subject matter of bank vaults arise.

For starters, who knows the combination?

What happens when the one with such information is fired, quits, or just fails to show up for work?

What happens if the person dies?

Who moves money in and out of the vault? When and how?

How is the vault secured when the door is open?

Who checks to see if the amount of money in the vault is the same as what bank personnel thinks should be in the vault?

How often is this checked?

What happens if there is a discrepancy?

Are there safe deposit boxes in the same vault?

How do customers get to those boxes?

Does it matter to the bank what customers put in their boxes?

And who installed the vault?

Does the installer know the combination, too? Do some of his employees?

Are there alarms on the vault?

Who installed the alarm and who responds when it rings?

Who gets to decide if it is a real bank robbery or a false alarm?

What happens if it is a false alarm?

What happens if the responder cannot tell the difference?

 

 

Questions, it seems, lead to ever more questions.

 

What happens if the lock on the vault breaks and cannot be opened?

What happens if the lock breaks and the door cannot be closed?

What happens if there is an earthquake and the vault’s walls crack?

What happens if the vault is submerged under a huge pile of rubble after an earthquake?