Martyn’s Law update: time to prepare

The latest webinar hosted by HOSPA CEO Jane Pendlebury discussed Martyn’s Law, led by Paul Davidson, who served as a special advisor on terrorism to the UK Government and is now the Director and Senior Security and Investigations Consultant at Team 9, sponsor Howden’s specialist risk experts on Martin's law and protective security audits and solutions.

Davidson described one achievable objective of Martyn’s Law being that, “with good planning and preparation and good security hygiene, fewer people will be injured” in the event of a terrorist attack.

He added:  “[Martyn’s Law] only applies to premises or events that are open to the public. So members’ clubs, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, outdoor music festivals and so on can be captured. A premises or event only comes under the requirements of this legislation if it is deemed to be in one of two tiers.

“These are the enhanced tier and the standard tier. The enhanced tier is a premises (or event) that must reasonably expect 800 or more members of the public, including staff, to be present. And it's important to just underline that it includes staff. And within that tier, there must be a responsible person whose name must be provided to the regulator, who is responsible for the delivery of counterterrorism law.

“The standard tier is the expectation of 200 people including staff to be present. If you deem yourself to be in the standard tier or out of scope, then you may need to justify that judgement.”

Davidson said that, once the tier level had been assessed, a risk assessment must be done, evaluating the most likely threats and vulnerabilities against that particular premises or event, with practical measures to be implemented to minimise the terrorism risks or mitigate harm.

He said: “So what that means is that you understand your gaps, and then you have to invest and fill those gaps with those practical measures.”

The next step involved all relevant workers - anyone on the premises for the event that can impact on safety  - who would all require specific training. Davidson said: “It’s specific training on your venue, so it can't be generic. It has to be on your venue and on your plans.”

The following stage was for the enhanced tier and was implementation of reasonable security protocols, access and egress monitoring, and the need for a security plan that was regularly updated and reviewed at least annually.

The standard tier required a responsible person whose name was provided to the regulator, who would need to consider the most likely terrorist attacks that may take place at those premises. The difference between this and the enhanced tier being that they had to consider what measures were in place to reduce attacks and reduce harm, but with no legal requirement to implement them.

Davidson said: “They must develop emergency plans; plans around evacuation…plans for lockdown. They’re also required for an annual review.

“The law allows also a business in the standard tier to occasionally move into the enhanced tier. And for that occasional event, they will need to adopt the enhanced tier responsibilities.”

Davidson underlined the importance of the area around a venue, telling attendees: “For the first time that I can remember, you're now legally responsible not just for your venue, but also the vicinity of your venue. So if you're a cafe, you may now be responsible for the footpath that's in front of your cafe under this legislation.”

There is a currently a grace period of two years for the implementation of the law’s requirement, but Davidson cautioned: “The law is already in force, the grace period is a favour, and [the government] has the ability to suspend the grace period immediately if an attack becomes highly likely.

“And that's why our message is particularly for those in the enhanced here, don't choose to do nothing just now. Use the time wisely and try and understand what you need to do going forward.”