Comments on: Hot or Not? Workplace Storage Boxes

By: Nate Bezanson

Nate Bezanson — Fri, 04 May 2007 04:16:17 +0000

The only thing I ever had stolen from a jobsite was lifted during the day, while the crew was at lunch and the box was left open. When it was locked, it was generally unmolested. There’s more to it than security, though: Putting tools away at the end of the day builds an impression in your mind of what should be there, so if something gets left out, you notice quickly.

I heard a fascinating story about gangbox security. One morning, a construction site crew came in, unlocked their box, and it was empty except for some junk in the bottom. All the tools had vanished, but the locks appeared unharmed. So they filed an insurance claim, replaced the tools, replaced the locks with a different model, and went back to life as normal.

A few weeks later, it happened again: Opening the box in the morning, the tools were gone. No evidence of picking on the locks or anything. So they filed another claim, a local locksmith crafted some locks that were highly pick-resistant and guaranteed uniquely-keyed, and the local police set up a hidden camera. For several weeks, nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Then after a few more weeks, the box was empty again. The police reviewed the video and found that in the middle of the night, the janitor came in, pulled a keychain from his pocket, unlocked the box, and loaded all the tools onto a cart. What they saw next began to put the pieces together: With the box open, the janitor removed the locks and put a different pair of locks in.

What?

So they rewound the tape even further. Paydirt: The previous day while the crew was at lunch with the box sitting open, the janitor came in and replaced the locks (that the crew had a key to) with a different pair (that the janitor had keys to). At the end of the day, the crew loaded their tools into the box, then helpfully pushed the locks closed.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:59:17 +0000

As a good friend of mine used to say, locks are just there to keep honest people honest. Seriously though, they are about as secure as you get on a job-site, but even with the inset locks like the jobox ones have, the locks themselves only take about 20 seconds to drill out with a carbide bit in a decent drill.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 03 May 2007 19:52:12 +0000

I think you need to buy a crane so that you can hang it from the crane. Can you hang this from a crane?

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:50:53 +0000

They generally work fine, but remember that the wheels are there just to roll it into place. After that, chain or cable it to something immovable like a gas main or it will roll away.

There are a large number of these in the back of pickups as an alternative to locking stuff in the cab. Once again, chained to the lumber rack - and no wheels.

By: Steve O

Steve O — Thu, 03 May 2007 18:08:03 +0000

I prefer the Jobox ones - they are well known for this stuff.

By: ba614

ba614 — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:54:18 +0000

Yes, these boxes are about as secure as you can have if you have to leave a tool box on the job.

The best have the lock protected so only the end of the lock is visable.

You need to have it chained by the handle to something secure.

That being said nothing is really secure anymore. If a thief wants it bad enough he’ll get it.

By: Kurt Schwind

Kurt Schwind — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:32:31 +0000

When it comes to theft on a job-site, nothing is sacred. Working on a new house build, someone came in the night to steal the entire AC system. Crazy. Luckily, insurance paid.