Martyn’s Law
We’re ready. Are you?
Events like Manchester’s arena terror attack is something you hope you’ll never have to respond to. But if you’re responsible for a public venue where crowds come together, then your business has to be prepared. It’s the same for lone attackers, crush incidents, protesters, and fire. By not planning and practising for these emergency events, everything becomes the unexpected and you end up with a situation where no-one knows what they’re doing – or what’s going on.
That’s why we work with organisations to create what we call Everyday Heros – it’s something we do day in, day out. We’re training teams to confidently respond to emergency events by getting them involved with scenario testing – and by putting structured and rock-solid systems in place to enable business continuity. When we step in, it enables the teams we work with to step up when they’re needed the most, to protect people, premises – and the planet.
That’s why we’re ready for Martyn’s Law.
Martyn Hett was 29, when he was killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack, along with 21 others who were enjoying a night out with family and friends.
When rules are passed in Parliament later this year, it will place new obligations on public venues to boost safety in crowded indoor and outdoor spaces. It means having common sense security and safety measures in place in the event of potential attacks. The new regulations which Martyn’s mum Figen Murray has rigorously campaigned for, will cover all of the UK.
This new law will become Martyn’s legacy to us all.
We’re never going to stop events like Manchester – but what we can do is reduce the severity of those attacks by minimising their effect. What we’ve learned about business continuity, is that when teams are faced with putting ‘written processes and systems’ into practice, the bits they’re not so good at is emergency scenario testing. That’s because these live disaster exercises take time and they’re not always sure how to approach them. But their value is huge. In the event of an attack, they will undoubtedly save lives, and enable your business to carry on.
Jodie Read is our lead on Martyn’s Law. She’s Managing Director at Penarth Management – and very familiar with emergency scenario testing having experienced it first-hand during her time in the Yorkshire Universities Royal Navy Unit. She’s also participated in big emergency scenarios carried out by local fire services. What became apparent was how realistic the exercise was, but also a fun way to learn and a safe place to make mistakes; far better to make them in practice scenarios than in the event of a real emergency.
Having worked in compliance consultancy and training for over two decades, Jodie has the
following observations to make about the emergency preparedness of organisations:
Often, when we start working with a company to implement a health and safety system, they haven’t usually taken the steps of doing emergency evacuation drills. What’s interesting, is that every single time we encourage them to do one, it typically goes much more slowly than they imagined. That’s because people don’t know what the alarm sounds like; they don’t instinctively know where the exits are, the exits aren’t always unlocked – and are sometimes even inaccessible due to stuff being piled up in front of the doors. This was the case when we first did an exercise for a telecommunications company based in a historic, but somewhat quirky building.
Then there was the time we conducted a health and safety audit for an English Football League club. It was a non-match day and complacency had set in. With no big crowds to manage, the need to unlock emergency exits had not been realised, and in the event of a fire, the contractors who were working in the bar area would not have been able to escape.
Sometimes, we have correctly identified potential issues such as an explosion risk at a steel works or a fire in a print works where companies have gone on to have those disasters before they have implemented controls and practiced their emergency response. At its worst, this has resulted in a real loss of life which is terrible for the individuals and their families, but we have seen firsthand how it affects those left behind as well; from survivors guilt to never being able to un-see, hear or smell the horrors that unfolded during the emergency.
At the opposite end of the scale, we have supported clients who have had to expand their thinking from business continuity in general, to event specific challenges, such as how to continue printing national newspapers from sites located near to the site of the London Olympics.
Planning for emergencies is critical. But putting those processes into action and learning from the things that don’t go to plan is super critical. It empowers teams faced with similar future scenarios to perform instinctively, to achieve much better outcomes.
Ready to get going? Here’s where we’ll start
With assurances and a review of where you are now. We’ll do a walk through and assess the contingency plans you have in place in the case of emergency events and look at how you practice for them.
If you choose to work with us, we’ll support you to implement three ISO management systems. Health and Safety (ISO 45001). Information and Security (ISO 27001) and Business Continuity (ISO 22301). To help you get the best out of them, we’ll guide you through a tailored training programme designed to help achieve a positive transformation in the organisational culture for staff at all levels of the organisation. Combining these three systems will give you a powerful platform.
Crucially, you’ll be in a position to be independently assessed by third party certification bodies sending a reassuring message to your crowds that the safety and security measures you have in place are the best they can be.
We’ll work with you to develop risk assessments – or better still, train you to develop your own so that you understand how to create them for the longer term. There’s a lot we can learn by reverse engineering what happened in Manchester. We’ll review your own events by considering their potential level threat, examining some of the critical criteria not considered in Manchester, looking at the types of crisis organisations you should be interacting with, and who has what roles and responsibilities.
With the basics in place, it’s time for practical emergency scenario testing – just like Jodie did all those years ago with the Universities Royal Navy Unit.
- Online Scenarios. We run highly interactive online events where you and your team join us and get involved with an emergency scenario. Here, you’ll be assigned roles which may well differ from your day job – but the experience will be invaluable and enable you to apply the lessons learned back in your own workplace. Interested? Talk to us about the dates for our next online event.
- Tabletop Exercises. These interactive virtual reality exercises are a cost friendly way of assessing your ability to respond to a range of emergencies. Our team will guide yours through an emergency scenario discussion and prepare you to handle that emergency. These are perfect for encouraging collaboration and identifying opportunities to improve your responses in the event of an incident. Our tabletop exercises can be tailored to your venue – ask us for details.
- Practical Emergency Scenario Testing. Practice doesn’t quite make perfect, but it makes it a whole lot easier to respond effectively in the event of an emergency. That’s why we’ve developed our Chaos Curveballs. We’ll give you one of several possible emergency scenarios to respond to – in real time, based on your own venue. But to fully test your responses, we may change the storyline as events unfold! One things for sure, at the end of this hands-on practice session, next time you’re faced with a similar scenario, you’ll have a team of well-prepared heroes.
Next steps
If you’re planning a largescale event and want to be fully prepared for it or want assurances that what you already have in place will meet Martyn’s Law legislation, please get in touch.
We’re ready when you are.
About Jodie Read
Jodie is the Managing Director of Penarth Management, a role she’s held since 2006. She joined the business in 2000 as a consultant and trainer before taking over the reins a few years later. Jodie is also the person behind the brand and ideas for The Protect Alliance (UK).
Her proven track record is in managing compliance data, culture change and engagement – subjects she knows inside out. Perhaps more importantly, she knows how to transfer this knowledge to her clients in plain English, in a way that inspires them to want to become even better at safety compliance.
She’s highly experienced and successful in coaching business leaders and their teams from diverse industries to implement integrated management systems to meet the requirements of multiple standards – and in the design, development and delivery of training programmes.
For five years, she held a voluntary position as Director of Training at the British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI).
Who we work with
NHS • Universities • Sports Organisations • Logistics Companies • Manufacturers • Landscapers • Construction Companies • Housing Associations • Healthcare Providers • Ecologists • Waste Management • Charities • Security Companies • Tree Surgeons • Training Companies • Printers • Property Management • Facilities Management • Telecommunications • Solicitors • Local Government • Emergency Services