Preparing for Martyn’s law: When every second counts

Preparing for Martyn’s Law with guidance from AddSecure LTD, highlighting the significance of a prompt response

Martyn’s Law is putting preparedness under the spotlight, but effective protection ultimately depends on what happens when plans meet reality.

Critical alerts. Clear actions

An emergency plan is only as effective as the response it enables when an incident unfolds, and turning that plan into clear, coordinated action is where the real challenge begins.

That distinction is becoming increasingly important as organisations across the UK prepare for the requirements of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly known as Martyn’s Law.

For qualifying premises and events, Martyn’s Law introduces new responsibilities around preparedness and public protection, yet understanding the legislation is only part of the challenge. When an incident develops quickly, organisations need to turn plans into action, communicate clearly and coordinate people across complex environments, often within seconds.

The question organisations should, therefore, be asking is not simply, “Do we have a plan?” but rather, “Will that plan work when we need it most?”

When the plan meets reality

Many organisations already have established emergency procedures, physical security measures, and communication systems; however, terrorist incidents can be unpredictable, dynamic, and highly location- dependent.

Under Martyn’s Law, public protection procedures can include evacuation, invacuation, and lockdown, meaning organisations need to consider how to coordinate different responses across their premises.

Evacuation, for example, may not always be the safest response.

Imagine an incident unfolding in a large shopping centre; people closest to the threat may need to lock down, while those elsewhere may need a safe evacuation route. Security teams, retailers and operational staff may all need different information at exactly the right moment.

The same challenge exists in healthcare, where some areas may need to evacuate while vulnerable patients elsewhere may be safer remaining in place; in education, different buildings or classrooms may also require different actions at the same time.

These are precisely the types of public protection procedures organisations are expected to consider as part of their preparedness under Martyn’s Law. The challenge is not simply defining evacuation, invacuation or lockdown procedures but ensuring they can be communicated and coordinated effectively when circumstances change in real time.

Communication can determine the response

Traditional alarms remain essential, but knowing that something has happened is not always enough; people need to know what is happening, what they need to do and when they need to do it.

This is where communication becomes a fundamental part of Martyn’s Law preparedness. During a fast-moving incident, generic instructions can create uncertainty, so communication must be rapid, clear, and relevant, whether alerting an entire site or providing targeted instructions to individual teams, buildings, or zones.

Organisations reviewing their preparedness should, therefore, consider some fundamental questions: can incident alerts be triggered immediately from multiple locations? Can different groups receive different instructions? Will communication remain operational if infrastructure is disrupted? Can alerts and actions be recorded to support post-incident review?

These considerations expose the difference between having an emergency procedure and having the capability to put that procedure into action.

Closing the gap between detection and action

Preparing for Martyn’s Law does not necessarily mean starting again, as fire alarms, security systems, radios, monitoring infrastructure and established procedures already perform important roles.

The challenge is understanding whether those systems can support the dynamic response that may be required during a terrorist incident.

Traditional fire alarms, for example, are typically designed around detection and evacuation, whereas a terrorist incident may require evacuation in one area, lockdown in another and invacuation elsewhere. Organisations, therefore, need to consider how these responses would work in practice, making clear, targeted, and resilient communication an important part of preparedness.

For many premises, the opportunity lies in introducing an additional communication and orchestration layer that works alongside existing infrastructure, helping bridge the gap between detecting an incident and coordinating the response.

This could enable alerts to be triggered from fixed or mobile devices, predefined instructions to reach specific locations or teams, communications to remain available during disruption, and actions to be recorded automatically.

The technology matters, but the outcome matters more: less uncertainty, clearer decisions and faster coordinated action.

Compliance should be the starting point

Martyn’s Law may be driving organisations to examine their preparedness, but the capabilities being considered have relevance far beyond compliance, as critical incidents rarely follow a script. Building the ability to communicate quickly, coordinate teams and adapt a response as circumstances change can strengthen operational resilience across a much broader range of situations, which is why preparing for Martyn’s Law should not become a box-ticking exercise.

Organisations should use this opportunity to review their risk assessment and existing communication arrangements, define potential response scenarios and identify where gaps could appear under pressure.

Testing those scenarios is equally important, as a procedure that works on paper still needs to work when people are under pressure and circumstances are changing around them.

Turning preparedness into action

With decades of experience in life- critical alarm signalling and critical communications, AddSecure helps organisations connect people, systems, and information when rapid response matters. Its approach focuses on understanding how an organisation currently operates, from its existing infrastructure and communication systems to the people responsible for responding when an incident occurs. This can help identify potential gaps and strengthen communication pathways without necessarily replacing systems already in place.

By connecting alerting, communication and coordinated response, solutions such as those provided by AddSecure can help organisations strengthen the practical capabilities behind their emergency procedures and turn preparedness into action when it matters most. Ultimately, preparedness is not measured by the quality of a document sitting on a shelf; it is measured by what happens in the seconds and minutes after an incident begins.

Martyn’s Law gives organisations an important reason to review that capability, but a greater opportunity is to build safer and more resilient environments where people receive the right information and understand what to do.

Martyn’s Law: From policy to protection. Download the white paper here.

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