Background
In response to a number of recent terror attacks in the UK, Martyn's Law aims to deliver consistent security preparedness to better protect the public. Martyn Hett was one of 22 people killed at the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. After continuous campaigning by Martyn's mother, this legislation seeks to provide stricter security regulations at public premises across the UK.How may this impact you?
The Act covers public locations, such as stadiums, education establishments and visitor attractions, to name a few. The aim of the Act is to ensure consistency in public protection and to mitigate harm caused by terrorism.
The Act establishes a tiered approach, linked to the number of individuals present at certain venues and qualifying events:
- Standard Tier – applies to premises and events with a capacity between 200 to 799 individuals.
- Enhanced Tier – applies to premises and events where at least 800 individuals will be present.
Publicly accessible locations must therefore assess how many people it may expect to be present at the same time within premises or at events. The assessment will: (1) determine whether the event or premises falls within scope of the legislation; and (2) what tier it will be categorised as. There are various methods of reasonable assessment that can be used, such as numbers for safe occupancy for fire safety purposes, historic attendance data, and ticket sales.
Who is responsible for compliance?
For in-scope premises, the person in control of the premises will be responsible for implementing sufficient safeguards in compliance with the Act. For qualifying events, the responsible person will be dependent upon who has control of the premises at the time of the event.
What are the requirements?
For applicable premises and events under the Act, the responsible person will be required to have in place, so far as reasonably practicable, appropriate public protection procedures. All premises and events captured by the legislation will also have reporting obligations to the Security Industry Authority (SIA).
Under the standard duty, there is no requirement to put in place physical measures, whereas the enhanced tier provides for stricter public protection procedures due to the increased impact of any potential terror attack.
The public protection procedures should be implemented and followed by everybody working at the premises if an act of terrorism were to occur at/or in the immediate vicinity of the premises.
Duty holders must therefore consider what reasonably practicable procedures and measures need to be in place to reflect the individual circumstances of their premises or event, and their reporting obligations to the SIA.
What this means for you?
Whilst there is a 2 year transition period, duty holders will be required to undertake significant work to ensure compliance with this new legislation, and as such should commence preparations without delay.
In preparation for the new legislation, DWF recommends considering:
- Whether your organisation may fall into the scope of the new legislation.
- What current safeguards and procedures do you have in place to protect the public?
- Who will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the legislation?
- What staff training may be required?
Enforcement
To support enforcement of the regime, the government will be establishing a new regulatory function within the SIA – the government body that regulates the private security industry. Where there are instances of serious or persistent non-compliance, the SIA will be equipped with investigatory powers and enforcement actions, including civil sanctions for non-compliance and criminal penalties. Penalties for non-compliance vary, with standard premises potentially facing penalties up to £10,000, and enhanced premises could face up to £18 million or 5% of worldwide revenue.
It is still early days and the government is yet to publish guidance on the procedures to be taken, but all duty holders are advised to start considering what the new legislation means for them. Assessing whether any of their premises are caught by the Act, reviewing current risk assessments and training. DWF can assist with helping you to understand how the Act may impact you, and what your approach to health and safety should be.
For further information on Martyn's Law, or any points issues raised above, please contact the below authors.
Authors: Mark Thompson, Kara Meah.
