So two different but related issues here.

1. I can’t figure out how to remove padlocks. It doesn’t seem to say it in the guidebook. If I place a padlock on a block, say a chest, then whether it’s locked or unlocked I can’t figure out how to remove it. It I break the chest it’s attached to, it just hangs there in mid-air, preventing other blocks from being placed there. I HAVE found that you can kill them using commands, but I can’t figure out any way to do so without commands. Is there a way? Where does it say in the guidebook?

2. If you lock a Safe, it means you can’t break it. However, this also extends to creative mode. Say you lock a safe then delete the key. You can’t bind another key to it to unlock it. And breaking it in creative mode doesn’t work, it just re-places itself. Once again, using commands it seems you can get around it by using /setblock and replacing the safe with air. But I’m surprised there’s no “normal” way to unlock things from creative mode in order to remove the safe or at least to let server operators get into things if they need to.