Ensuring the safety of all the occupants in institutions is a critical challenge when facing dangers such as intrusions, flames, extreme weather conditions or health crisis.
As a result, managers are called to anticipate this diversity of incidents and implement security actions and suitable tools to promote prevention in schools and ensure the safety of its occupants, for which they are responsible.
What you need to know about this guide:
- Half-2027 compliance : Martyn’s Law has received royal assent in April 2025, and allows for a 24-month implementation period.
- Methodology: : Effective safety is based on 4 pillars: identification, anticipation, equipment and training.
- Technology : The alert should be immediate, audible and visual to guarantee the inclusion of all the occupants (students and staff).
- Safety culture : Annual drills and post-mortem documentation are essential to validate the measures implemented.
Martyn’s Law has been implemented to ensure that the public are better protected from terrorism, by requiring some public facilities and events to be prepared and keep people safe. Following the royal assent of April 2025, premises and business will be given time and support to understand their new obligations, implement new measures, and define a responsible person.
As a result, it is important to be prepared, by being equipped with suitable tools, such as PA systems, clocks and access systems. Implementing appropriate, efficient organisation suitable to your facility and its size allows for fast responsiveness in case of threat. It provides guidance on how to react according to the incident in progress, in order to ensure staff and pupil safety.
This practical guide details the 4 key steps to follow to guarantee compliance of your school to Martyn’s Law. From risk identification to technological equipment, follow this structured guide to ensure optimum safety to your students and staff.
Step 1: Identifying major risks specific to the school
These last few years, violent crime in UK classrooms has hit nearly 100,000 incidents: A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has declared that the worst hit areas were London, with 11,156 reports of violent crime,the Greater Manchester area, with 5,618 and West Yorkshire, with 5,118..
Within nursery schools, primary schools and second level schools, different types of risks can be identified:
- Natural disasters: floods, earthquakes
- Technological incidents: explosions, cyberattacks
- Human-induced incidents: intrusions, attacks, acts of violence, individual assaults
Natural disasters
These are “exceptional” situations, especially in the UK, whose likelihood is reduced. However, climate change has altered the risk of some types of extreme weather in the UK, with evidence that the frequency and intensity of storms, floods, and heat waves are likely to increase in the future. Across the east cost of England, coastal flooding is more likely to occur.
With a significant impact on a large number of residential properties and requiring the use of warning and informing systems.
Technological and industrial incidents
These are related to equipment, technical installations or activities using some technologies. For example, there can be dangers of electric shock or short circuit, relating to faulty electric installations or improper use of electrical appliances, that could result in a fire.
Chemical incidents can also occur in some schools located near COMAH sites, thus provocating toxic fumes and requiring a lockdown posture as well as the triggering of a lockdown alert. Eventually, digital and technological threats are more and more taken into account within educational settings; it is then important to raise awareness of cyberattacks, and the malfunction of IT systems.
Human-induced incidents
They are considered as “exceptional”, but can be extremely serious. These last few years, we are facing an increase in human-induced accidents, especially since the 2015 terrorist attacks in France. Since then, several intrusions of malicious individuals have been reported within schools, in France, at European scale or in the United States. For example, in 2025, individuals have been seriously injured, and ten people including students have been murdered by a former student within the premises of the Graz high school, in Austria. Unfortunately, this is only an example among many.
To this end, the CONTEST strategy has been implemented in 2003 to protect the population and strengthen vigilance within public facilities, especially schools. This strategy is driven by the Home Office, and is based on 4 main pillars: Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare. Indeed, CONTEST is aimed at stopping people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism, stopping terrorist attacks happening in the country, strengthening protection against a terrorist attack, minimising the impact of an attack and reducing the likelihood of further attacks. This strategy can then be implemented through the use of access control, increased surveillance, safety and lockdown systems if required. Every emergency plan is specific to each facility and aims at ensuring student and staff safety, to prevent the above-mentioned risks.
Therefore, prior analysis of different school incidents and likelihood can be used to create your own safety plan.
Step 2: Anticipating compliance with regulatory obligations
All schools have legal obligations in terms of safety. In fact, the headmasters are held liable in case of incident.
Faced with the increase of incidents of all types, but especially of major risks (malicious intrusion, lethal aggression), the UK Threat Level has also been implemented, assessed by the MI5. The UK Threat Level consists in using different levels to indicate the likelihood of an attack. As a result, the different categories have been defined as follows:
- Low: an attack is highly unlikely
- Moderate : an attack is possible, but not likely
- Substantial: an attack is likely
Severe: an attack is highly likely, Critical: an attack is highly likely in the near future. Besides, as part of the safety plan, it is also important to specify the configuration of buildings, the number of total occupants, the flow of entries and exits, the different access for emergency services, as well as the areas dedicated to lockdown and evacuation, through the creation of a practical guide.
The documentation must clearly identify the individuals referred to as security agents, as well as the different instructions according to the risk identified. Then, this guide can be implemented through the use of safety equipment, in order to ensure full compliance with Martyn’s Law.
Before the law becomes fully applicable (April 2027), there will be no immediate sanctions. Once applied, financial, administrative and even criminal sanctions might be applied if public facilities do not meet their obligations.
Step 3: Being equipped with appropriate tools to realise the guide and ensure safety
As part of Martyn’s Law, headmasters can be equipped with alert systems to implement their plan.
Some of them are equipped with lockdown alert systems; that is to say, PA and visual systems to be installed in strategic areas of their school to inform all occupants of an incident in progress.
To help schools complying with Martyn’s Law, Bodet Time has designed PA and alert systems such as the Harmonys and Melodys range. These IP-based or radio-synchronised devices allow for broadcasting of intrusion alerts, announcements or pre-recorded messages.
For hearing-impaired individuals, these devices can display luminous strobes or text to inform of an ongoing event. Indeed, it is important to use inclusive solutions enabling to inform all individuals present in the premises.
Town halls are important stakeholders in the education sector, since they often have access to the information of different schools located in the same sector. As a result, when an alert is triggered, they can centralise the lockdown alerts triggered in one or several schools. Harmonys Multisite is the alert centralisation software from Bodet Time, which enables to visualise on a map all the premises to be monitored, to control the management of alerts and communicate directly and effectively.
Step 4: Raising awareness and testing the system
Once the safety plan has been implemented and communicated to the relevant individuals, the headmaster should conduct annual drills, separate from fire drills, in accordance with the BS 5839 standard. In fact, it is important to raise student awareness on safety and security issues by implementing real-life drills.
These drills can take different forms according to the risks identified: for example, a lockdown drill simulates the presence of a malicious individual near the school, requiring both students and the personnel to adopt a lockdown posture and silent sheltering, or a lockdown drill in case of industrial risk for schools located near SEVESO sites, requiring doors and windows to be closed, ventilation systems to be switched off, and all occupants to be gathered in dedicated rooms. In general, educational institutions should use these drills to create postmortem documentation enabling to improve the system, and make corrective measures if required.
Implementing a safety plan then constitutes a regulatory element of individual’s safety within a school.. By identifying risks, defining clear procedures and involving all stakeholders, this document allows for anticipation of emergency situations and limitation of their consequences. An effective procedure lies on careful preparation, suitable communication and regular updates, to ensure optimum level of safety both for students and the staff.
Such updates can occur as part of works carried out within the facility, requiring evacuation plans to be updated, lockdown areas to be redefined, or as part as a change in the school’s management, involving a change in the crisis organisational chart, or as part of a drill postmortem analysis, justifying the modification of the alert signal.
Martyn’s Law: best practices
As part of Martyn’s Law, headmasters should define a security referent, that will have the appropriate documentation and participate in information or update meetings so that information is transmitted and understood by everyone.
The safety plan should clearly define instructions to be observed depending on the type of alert (lockdown, malicious intrusion, etc). Indeed, postures and equipment will not be the same depending on the incident faced. As a result, security referents should communicate to all occupants of the facility easy, precise actions to carry out. For example, in the event of a malicious intrusion, security referents are required to trigger an intrusion alarm, and all occupants should confine themselves by closing doors and windows, and hiding under the tables.
Frequently asked questions
What is Martyn’s Law?
Martyn’s Law - The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, has been named after one of the victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. The law has received Royal Assent in April 2025 and has passed into law. It aims at protecting public facilities from terrorist attacks.
What is the difference between the UK Threat Level and the CONTEST strategy?
The UK Threat Level indicates the likelihood of a terrorist attack. It is assessed by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), which is answerable to the MI5. Then, 5 levels are identified from lowest to critical likelihood. These levels are used nationally in order to inform public facilities and adjust safety measures. If the UK Threat Level is defined through indicators, CONTEST is the global strategy of the British government to ensure protection from terrorist attacks. This strategy lies on 4 pillars: Prevent, Pursue, Protect, and Prepare. It then defines school safety policies.
Is the use of a fire alarm sufficient for lockdown and vice versa?
The use of a fire alarm is not appropriate for lockdown. Indeed, the lockdown alert system covers several types of natural, technological and human risks. Then, the audible signal dedicated to the fire alarm is only used to inform all occupants that the current incident is a fire. Using it as part of other incidents would reinforce confusion and even endanger individuals. This is why it is important to create a specific bell for each alert to clearly distinguish them. The same applies to equipment: when the lockdown alarm is technically integrated into an installation including a fire alarm system compliant with the triggering devices should be clearly differentiated from manual call points, to avoid any confusion.
How to choose the most suitable alert system for one’s school?
Once the technical installation carried out, the choice of the most suitable alert system for a school will be influenced by many factors such as its size, the number of occupants, the potential risks identified, and the different areas requiring protection. By taking all these elements into account, several installation and equipment options can be suggested. In addition to offering specific alerts, Bodet Time sets the pace of the school day by broadcasting start, class change and end of class bells.
For over 50 years, Bodet Time has been the leader in time management within schools. Since 2006, Bodet Time has been offering solutions to ensure the safety of school occupants, and has already equipped over 20,000 establishments worldwide.
