On the 19th December 2022, the UK government announced further details related to ‘Martyn’s Law’ and the attempts to upgrade the UK’s resilience to terrorism. It’s official title is ‘Protect Duty’ and has come about following the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017 where 22 people were killed by a suicide bomber.
The new legislation is due to be passed next year, with draft legislation being published early Spring, and will aim to keep the public safe by stepping up preparedness and protection from future terrorist attacks.
The main thrust of the new law will be to work with venue operators to provide support, guidance and training to help embed best practice. It will require venues of all sizes to take steps to improve public safety, with measures dependent on the size of the venue and the activity taking place.
This new legislation has come about largely because of a tireless campaign by Figen Murray, the mother of one of the Manchester Arena victims, Martyn Hett, and the plans have been developed following public consultation and industry engagement.
Martyn’s Law will impact venues differently depending on the size, capacity and usage type, but the measures will aim to prevent undue burden on businesses. The main focus will be on how to react to a potential terrorist attack, prevent unauthorised access and mitigate the impact of an attack, if one were to take place.
Standard Tier
The standard tier will apply to venues with a capacity of 100 visitors or less and will require the owner to undertake simple and low cost measures such as online training for staff, information sharing and the completion of a basic preparedness plan.
Enhanced Tier
The enhanced tier will focus on venues with a capacity of 800 people or more. These larger venues will also be required to complete a risk assessment, develop a robust security plan, improve security related processes and upgrade security systems such as CCTV.
The Government will be setting up an inspection and enforcement agency who will be responsible for ensuring compliance of venues across the UK, with the power to issue sanctions for serious breaches.
Clearly the full details are still to be developed further, but there is no doubt that Martyn’s Law will put additional onus on venues of all sizes to ensure they are more prepared for a potential terrorist incident.
For the smaller venues it is likely that plenty of support will be provided and online tools made available to minimise any cost or impact on their business. However, for the larger venues it will mean significant changes to their operational and security procedures will need to be made, which will need additional planning, resource and investment.
VenuePro is a venue and event management platform that could provide many of the required solutions as well as improve operational efficiency and automation of a venue more generally.
Made up of 21 modules that can be used in isolation or provide a complete end to end solution, there are a number of existing features that can provide many of the tools needed to help venues mitigate against, and prepare for, potential terrorist activity.
In terms of planning, VenuePro provides a complete Risk Assessment and Analysis solution, which can be automated or set manually and templates for PEAPs, staffing and check-lists can be assigned. The Compliance module ensures complete compliance of event day practices and that critical and daily tasks are correctly assigned to relevant team members and are completed on time and to the required standards.
The Control Room Dashboard ensures all stakeholders can get a complete snapshot as to what is happening at the venue, during an event, in real time.
VenuePro’s incident management response module ensures the security team can quickly and effectively respond to any incident and allow tracking, monitoring and reporting on an ongoing situation.
Our Staffing and Accreditation module manages team members and event day staff with effective accreditation services to profile all attendees, ensuring enhanced levels of security. It provides full transparency and real-time information as to who is on site and security clearance levels.
VenuePro provides a complete end to end solution to ensure that venue management and event organisers are doing everything they can to prepare for an incident, manage the risk on event day, react to an attack and provide robust post event intelligence and reports.
Find out how VenuePro can assist your venue or event operation by getting in touch via contact@approved-tech.com.
