What is Martyn’s Law?
Martyn’s Law requires schools to enhance their preparedness for potential threats, particularly terrorism.
Key measures include
- Risk Assessments: Schools must conduct regular assessments to identify and mitigate potential risks.
- Integrated Procedures: Schools should implement a single integrated invacuation and lockdown procedure to secure classroom doors.
- Applicability: The law applies to both primary and secondary schools, ensuring they meet specific safety standards.
- Tiered Approach: Schools will be categorised based on their capacity, which influences the specific requirements they must follow.
The Tiered approach
Venues with a capacity between 200 and 799 will fall under the ‘Standard Tier’ requirements; and
Venues with a capacity of more than 800 will fall under the ‘Enhanced Tier’ requirements.
Standard Tier premises – also known as standard duty premises – are any locations with a capacity of 200-799. Event locations are not included in Standard Tier requirements.
Enhanced Tier: Venues with a capacity of 800 or more individuals, requiring more comprehensive security measures.
Not all venues are in the scope of the bill, with some, such as educational premises, excluded from the regulations.
However, schools are exempt from the Enhanced Tier regardless of their capacity. This recognises the existing security measures and safeguarding protocols in place across schools, reducing the need for them to implement the more stringent requirements reserved for larger public spaces.
This means that, even if a school has over 800 pupils, it will still only be required to comply with Standard Tier requirements.
What does this mean for schools?
In summary, for a school it means that they must appoint a responsible person who will be required to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, appropriate public protection procedures are in place at the school that would reduce the risk of physical harm to individuals in the event that an act
of terrorism occurs, at the premises or in the immediate vicinity.
Schools must also ensure that routine health and safety matters relating to events are attended to.
What should this look like in practice?
Four types of procedures must be put in place, as follows:
- Evacuation – getting people safely out of the premises.
- Invacuation – bringing people safely into, or to safe parts within, the premises.
- Lockdown – (Ready for Anything) – securing the premises by locking doors.
- Communication – alerting people on the premises to danger. Schools must ensure they have systems in place to alert staff and students during an emergency. This could involve the use of public address systems, alarms, or other technology that enables swift communication during a crisis.
Schools without electronically controlled access
As there is an over-riding “as appropriate and reasonably practicable” clause. It is still strongly suggested to schools, without electronic access control, they should have a single integrated invacuation and lockdown procedure, focusing on securing classroom doors.
We are holding a large event. What should we do?
A misconception still prevalent is that schools with large events (sports day, concerts etc.) with over 800 attendees will need to have specialist security procedures. This is not the case as the final version of the legislation specifically excludes educational premise from the scope of so-called “qualifying events”.
Training requirements
There is no requirement for schools to undergo specific terrorism training or complete a detailed Standard Terrorism Evaluation. Instead, staff need to be aware of the procedures in place and receive any necessary instructions or training relevant to their roles. However, there is free CPD available from ProtectUK ; https://www.protectuk.police.uk/catalogue/EducationLearningandGuidance
These measures aim to improve safety in educational environments and ensure that schools are better prepared for emergencies.