For public venues, spaces and other organisations accessible to the public, the introduction of Protect Duty legislation will lay down new security and safety requirements; it’s time to start preparing.
Martyn Hett was killed in the May 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack. Since then, his mother has led a tireless campaign in the UK to enhance the safety of those using public spaces from acts of terrorism. The Protect Duty Bill will be the legislative conclusion to her work. The Government has concluded its consultation, and, in the 2022 Queen’s speech, announced its intention to introduce a Protect Duty Bill. Those organisations who consider themselves likely to be affected may wish to consider how to comply with the likely scope.
Who Will be Affected?
Organisations expected to come under the Protect Duty legislation are publicly accessible locations (PALs), defined within the 2021 consultation document as (and expected to be broadly the same in the final legislation):
- Public venues with a capacity greater than 100 people (i.e. festival, entertainment and sporting locations, as well as education campuses, and places of worship).
- Large organisations who employ more than 250 people that operate at publicly accessible locations (i.e. retail sites, hospitality and entertainment venues, and local government sites).
- Public spaces (this could include managed open spaces such as town squares, parks) as well as lifestyle destinations where people congregate.
What New Measures Will be Required?
As currently envisaged, organisations impacted by the proposed legislation will need to take “appropriate and proportionate security measures”.
For smaller spaces (in terms of visitor capacity or employee numbers), management may need to:
- Develop a robust plan on how to deal with or act as a result of a terrorist attack.
- Ensure staff are trained and aware of threats, likely attack methods and how to respond.
- Ensure staff are trained to identify the signs of hostile reconnaissance and to take appropriate action.
- Check the organisation’s response to different attack types is regularly updated and exercised.
In addition, considerations for larger spaces may include:
- Use of available information and guidance provided by the Government and the police to consider terrorist threats to the public and staff at locations owned or operated by the impacted organisations.
- A requirement to assess the potential impact of these risks across functions and estate, and through the organisation’s systems and processes.
- A need to consider and implement “reasonably practicable” protective security and organisational preparedness measures.
The Protect Duty legislation is expected to provide a benchmark to which organisations can measure themselves, and importantly, be measured - establishing what good looks like from a life safety/security delivery perspective.
For many organisations Protect Duty is likely to reinforce many existing, good practices around risk assessment and security delivery – though that’s not to say there won’t be a need for additional effort and spend. PALs may see additional workload in the short to medium term to demonstrate how they are aligned with the Protect Duty requirements; from risk assessment, through to investment in training, daily delivery and how they would manage a response to an attack before the arrival of the emergency services.
How to Respond
Even in the absence of absolute clarity on the full scope of legislation, there is activity that organisations can begin now to understand its requirements; establish where their own organisation is in relation to the requirements; and, where applicable, the path to compliance. Key internal stakeholders – including finance, HR, facilities, life safety (security), operations, and insurance – can be brought together now to consider the implications and, if necessary, manage internal expectations in advance.
As currently understood the Protect Duty legislation may be wrapped into the annual cycle of assessment and audit of risk, alongside wider health and safety activity. As a minimum, organisations will see additional training requirements for staff, as well as routine internal (and potentially external) audits of related activity. Those organisations who are likely to come under the legislation may consider the following actions:
- Prepare your team now and ensure Protect Duty is on their collective horizon
- Discuss ‘who’, ‘how’ and potential costs (time, expense) for implementation.
- Consider the guidance already available through several information hubs such as Protect UK.
- Engage early with both police and local authorities as more detail emerges.
Insurance Implications
Clearly the purpose of any life safety programme is to safeguard lives rather than simply to avoid potential liability. Good engagement with Protect Duty will hopefully reduce the opportunity for poor response to an incident. Insurers will likely respond positively when presented with material information on the quality of the risk management in place; arguably enabling organisations to differentiate themselves more clearly among their peers.
Conversely, where a risk is seen to be poorly managed and with no clear plan on how the organisation is stepping up to mitigate the potential for these events, insurers may respond with premium increases, restrictions in cover or may decline to participate on a programme.
How Aon Can Help
Aon’s broking teams are already developing how best to illustrate risk management steps and how to present information to insurers on their clients’ Protect Duty profile.
Provide security reviews to assess current practice and gap analysis to be compliant with Protect Duty, via our risk consulting teams, in tandem with third party providers.
Identify key partners to support clients in the implementation of the Protect Duty requirements.
Discussions with your insurance broker should begin outside of the renewal cycle where possible, to give more time and space to understand and manage the process.
Protect Duty is likely to become a requirement within the UK in 2023; early engagement will reduce unanticipated operational and financial impacts and improve the integration into your risk management activities.
To find out more about Protect Duty and what it might mean for your organisation, speak to your local Aon contact.
The information contained in this document is intended to assist readers and is for general guidance only. While care has been taken in the production of this document, Aon does not warrant, represent or guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or fitness for any purpose of the document or any part of it and can accept no liability for any loss incurred in any way by any person who may rely on it. Aon does not provide legal, financial or tax advice, and no one should act on the information set out in this document without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation. Any recipient shall be responsible for the use to which it puts this document. This document has been compiled using information available to us up to its date of publication and is subject to any qualifications made in the document.
This report has been compiled using information available to us up to October 2022.
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