An AED nobody can find is an AED nobody uses. In a cardiac arrest the people around the patient have seconds, not minutes, and they will not go hunting. Cabinets and signage are the cheapest part of an AED program and the part that most often decides whether the device gets used at all.
| Situation | What to choose |
|---|---|
| Office, clinic, school corridor — staffed, supervised | A basic wall cabinet, or a simple wall bracket. Visibility matters more than security. |
| Public building, gym, arena, retail floor | An alarmed cabinet. The alarm deters casual tampering and tells staff the unit has been opened. |
| Unsupervised or overnight-accessible space | Alarmed, and consider a strobe so the opening is visible as well as audible. |
| Outdoors, unheated garage, vehicle bay, job site | A temperature-controlled outdoor cabinet. Every AED has an operating temperature range and cold shortens battery life. |
Surface-mount cabinets bolt to the wall and are far easier to install — no cutting, no stud work, and they can be moved. Recessed cabinets sit inside the wall and are tidier in a corridor where a projecting box is a hazard or an obstruction. Semi-recessed splits the difference. If you're retrofitting an existing building, surface-mount is almost always the right answer.
Two rules do most of the work:
Put it somewhere people already pass — a main entrance, reception, a lift lobby, beside the fire extinguisher — not in a locked office or a back room. And don't put it behind a door that badges shut after hours.
The international AED symbol is a green square with a white heart and lightning bolt. Use it, not a custom design: it's recognised across languages and is what visitors and first responders are looking for.
An inspection tag on the cabinet turns "someone probably checked it" into a dated record you can show a safety committee or an auditor. We also stock wall brackets, response kits and spare cabinet keys.
Not sure what fits your unit or your space? Call 1-877-851-0756, Monday to Friday, 8:00am–5:00pm MT with your AED's make and model. Cabinets are not universal and we'd rather check than have you mount the wrong one.
Shipped Canada-wide from Calgary and Barrie. Free shipping on orders over $99.