Martyn's Law


FSM


Martyn’s Law Is Coming. Is Your Stadium Ready? By Kevin Blyde, Managing Director, BDS Fire & Life Safety, a PTSG Company.


Ask a stadium manager what keeps them up at night and fire compliance is probably near the top. But from next April, they need to add another item to the list.


Under Martyn’s Law, enhanced tier premises that fail to comply face fines of up to £18 million or 5% of worldwide revenue, whichever is greater, and the regulator can issue restriction notices that limit or shut down a venue.


Martyn’s Law, formally the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, asks responsible persons to take reasonable, proportionate


steps to reduce the risk of a terrorist


attack. It covers retail, hospitality, education, healthcare, entertainment, sports venues, places of worship and large events that meet certain occupancy thresholds.


Standard Tier covers premises where 200 to 799 people may reasonably be present, and focuses on evacuation plans, staff training and communication protocols. Enhanced Tier applies to 800 or more, and adds formal risk assessments, documented security plans and access control, along with the steeper penalties.


Working across retail, healthcare, education and transport, we keep seeing the same gap. Sites with strong fire compliance often have no equivalent plan for a security incident, no tested lockdown procedure and no clear line of responsibility out of hours. The fire discipline is there but the security discipline hasn’t caught up.


That gap is also the opportunity. If you run regular fire risk assessments, compartmentation


Build On What You Already Have surveys


and a planned


maintenance programme, you already have much of the foundation Martyn’s Law requires. Treat it as an extension of that framework, not a separate project and you can save time and avoid conflicting procedures.


Start With These Steps


• Confirm whether your premises fall within scope, and which tier applies • Carry out a terrorism risk assessment covering entry


points, crowd areas and existing security measures • Review and test procedures for evacuation, lockdown and incident communication • Refresh staff training on recognising suspicious


behaviour and responding appropriately • Document every assessment and review, building a clear audit trail


Don’t Wait For Enforcement


The organisations that will find the April 2027 deadline straightforward are the ones planning now, not the ones scrambling once the SIA starts inspecting. A phased approach built on existing fire safety discipline is far cheaper than retrofitting everything at the last minute, or facing an £18 million lesson in why you should have started sooner.


BDS Fire & Life Safety, part of PTSG’s Fire Solutions Division, helps responsible persons align terrorism preparedness with existing fire safety arrangements, so facilities teams get one joined up approach rather than two competing sets of paperwork.


To download a free Martyn’s Law compliance checklist for facilities managers visit the PTSG website:www.ptsg.co.uk FSM 17


MARTYN’S LAW COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST


FOR UK BUSINESSES Practical guidance for responsible persons preparing for the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025


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