INCOMING SECURITY CHANGES FOR UK SCHOOLS REQUIRED BY ‘MARTYN’S LAW’

What is Martyn’s Law?

• Martyn’s Law is the commonly known name for the proposed Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill

• The Bill, which is expected to be approved by the House of Commons, will introduce new levels of public safety in schools and venues, so they are better protected against intrusion or terrorist threats

• The Bill is known as Martyn’s Law in honour of Martyn Hett, who was killed in the Manchester Arena attack in May 2017

• Schools will fall under the standard tier of the legislation, requiring basic yet effective safety measures. To comply, schools and colleges will need to ensure security protocols match requirements

  
  

Why are schools being included?

• Schools have been vulnerable to unauthorised intrusion, and particularly in recent times there has been an increase in knife-related incidents

• Martyn’s Law is therefore highly applicable to schools and securing their greater future safety

What role can Croma play?

• Croma is one of the UK’s leading security system advisors and experts in assessing school security to help defend against violent threats or intruders

• Each school or venue will have varying levels of security and will be individually assessed to gauge if changes or modifications are required

• A key element of compliance is likely to involve installing a new modern locking system, with the ability to be linked electronically, together with a system to communicate swiftly in an emergency situation between staff, buildings and pupils

• Croma is able to provide, install and maintain these elements

  
  

What will schools need to be able to do? 

To meet the objective of Martyn’s Law, which is to reduce harm to the students, public and staff at the premises in the event of an attack, schools are likely to be assessed on their ability to achieve the following procedures efficiently in the event of an incident:

• Evacuation – Clearing the premises of all students, staff and visitors to a safe area

• Invacuation – Moving people to somewhere safe inside a building, when there is danger outside

• Lockdown – Children and staff locked inside school buildings/classrooms for their own safety

• Communication – Maintain clear communication to staff, students, visitors over the course of an incident

Based on Croma’s experience, what will schools need to do to implement new safety procedures?

• Each school will have different requirements, however there are general approaches and security features which are likely to be widely adopted

• To lockdown a school requires efficient locking systems, such as Master Key Suites, which divide buildings into secure zones, allowing staff to lock down areas quickly and restrict who has access to keys

• Communication between staff, students and visitors will be critical. To alert others quickly that a serious incident has occurred there needs to be an emergency protocol system to initiate a defensive response through a platform such as the Croma bSafe security app

• To implement Martyn’s Law effectively, schools will need to regularly review and practice their lockdown procedures which will increase efficiency and address potential security gaps.

For enquiries on how Croma can assist your school with the introduction of Martyn’s Law, please contact us at sales@cssgplc.com or via 01489566100

Martyn’s Law Factsheet – Home Office in the media (blog.gov.uk)

'Martyn’s Law' introduced in Parliament to better protect the public from terrorism - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)