Safety Padlock Comparison – UPDATE

Plastic Safety Padlock comparison.

In 2011 I wrote this article comparing two similar lockout safety padlocks. Since then Total Lockout has gained valuable feedback from customers. Recently, a particular aspect of safety padlock specification has been brought to our attention.

The main body of the article is unchanged. Refer to the section ‘Lock Cylinders’ and also ‘Summary’ for this update.

Two lockout tagout equipment manufacturers go head to head with their latest versions of the lockout safety padlock.

Shortly after the launch of Master Lock’s S31 safety padlock, Brady have launched their new Compact Safety Padlock. This article compares the two products to establish whether either offers any compelling advantage over the other.

Dimensions:

As the name suggests, Brady’s compact padlock is smaller in size that other similar lockout padlocks on the market. The body width is 33mm compared to Master Lock 35mm. The Master Lock S31 body is 13mm taller at 48mm. This makes the Brady padlock feel much smaller in the hand. Brady offer four different shackle lengths, 25mm, 38mm, 50mm and 75mm. Master Lock have two; 38mm and 76mm.

Materials of Construction:

Since Master Lock entered this market, their padlocks utilized the brand name Xenoy ^TM for their thermoplastic padlocks. This has recently changed and the padlocks will now bear the Zenex ^TM name. They are claimed to perform to the same high standards in terms of temperature (+350˚c), chemical, corrosion resistance and UV stability.

Brady’s new Compact Safety Padlock is made from Reinforced Nylon and also claim good resistance to temperature (+120˚c), chemical, and corrosion.

Of note is the material of the shackle. Both manufacturers have gone for a smaller diameter shackle of 4.7mm (3/16”). But whereas the Master Lock S31 is made from Stainless Steel, Brady has opted for an aluminium shackle. This may restrict some of the environments where it can be used, particularly in chemical industries.

The Master Lock padlock is available in nine different colours. These are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Teal, Purple, Black and White. For Brady, there are 10 colours; Red Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Black, White, Grey and Brown.

Key Styles:

As is common with safety isolation padlocks, both products offer 4 different key styles. These are:

• Keyed to Differ
• Keyed Alike
• Master & Differ
• Master, Keyed Alike

These variations facilitate a wide range of applications for users, for example individuals having more than one padlock with a common key, with supervisor access via a Master Key.

Both products have a captive key function. This means that the key cannot be removed from the padlock when the shackle is open (unlocked).

Lock Cylinders

The integrity of any safety lockout procedure rests with the padlock selection. It is imperative that lockout padlock suppliers and users take all possible efforts to ensure a duplicate key cannot come in to circulation at any one end-user location.

A duplicate, unauthorised key can lead to the undesired removal of the lock and re-energization of the isolated equipment leading to injury and/or death.

Initially this is achieved by using a key profile that cannot be duplicated easily, for example at a locksmith shop. Thereafter, the lock cylinder should offer a high number of variable codes, also known as ‘differs’. And this is where the Brady Compact padlock falls short, offering only 1850 unique codes. Given this relatively small number of unique codes, there is a significantly increased chance of finding duplicate locks and keys in a small batch quantity. Having said that, this lock can be key charted at origin by the manufacturer to mitigate this issue, but in requesting this feature, the price goes up and the delivery lead time is extended.

Master Lock also offer a key/lock charting service, designed to protect users against duplicate keys. But according to their literature, their S31 padlock offers over 40,000 unique key differs. Under these circumstances, the possibility of duplicate keys is significantly reduced. And if the distributor offers a key/lock charting service, that chance is further reduced.

It should be noted that Brady do offer other safety padlocks which offer a far higher number of unique key differs. But in this review we have matched the compact padlock against Master Lock’s S31 on the basis they are otherwise a close match in terms of function and size.

Availability:

For standard product (keyed alike and keyed to differ), both manufacturers offer stock from their European warehouses. In the case of Master Lock, this is around 7 – 10 days. For Brady, 2 – 3 days. For custom systems, deliveries can extend to 2 – 3 weeks for Brady and around 3-4 weeks for Master Lock.

Out of the box.

Both manufacturers offer a long heritage of lock making; in the case of the Brady compact padlock, the padlock is produced by German manufacturer Abus. In the samples we used for this article, we found an inconsistency of key operation with the Master Lock S31 with some being sticky to insert the key and turn.

Master Lock offer an optional dust cover for their padlock to protect the lock cylinder. This offers increased resistance in dusty environments.

Price:

2015 update on padlock pricing

The Brady padlock is a slightly lower cost option. At the time of writing, £9.76 versus Master Lock £10.42. Note that the Brady price increases if key charting is requested, whereas the Master Lock price is unaffected.

Summary:

For the Brady Compact padlock, it’s fair to say the limited number of available key/lock differs may only affect businesses where larger numbers of padlocks are in circulation. That said, there’s a seed of doubt associated with using any padlock where no traceability of key numbers exists. And if there’s an increased possibility that padlocks could be removed by unauthorised persons, specifically not the original key holder, the potential for serious accident is increased.

Otherwise, there is very little to separate these products, in terms of function, price and specification. With their 410 padlock now widely used globally, Master Lock have stolen the lead for market awareness. Brady will need to be very proactive with their marketing to catch up.

However, where speed of delivery is often the most important factor, Brady have the potential to claw back some of Master Lock’s market share.

Master S31 and Brady Compact Safety Padlock are both available now from Total Lockout (Safety) Ltd