Martyn’s Law checklist for standard-tier venues
Work down the list. If you can tick every line, you are in good shape before the law starts.
To prepare a standard-tier venue: confirm and record your tier, identify the responsible person, be ready to notify the SIA, write evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication procedures, assign staff roles, train staff (ProtectUK ACT is free), test with a tabletop exercise, and set a review date.
Are you in scope?
- Busiest normal occupancy worked out, staff included, and the reasoning recorded.
- Principal use of the building confirmed if it has more than one use.
- Responsible person identified (the person or organisation in control of the premises).
Are your procedures ready?
- Evacuation routes and a meeting point that may differ from the fire assembly point.
- Invacuation space chosen: inside, away from glass and entrances, with a way to lock it.
- Lockdown: which doors, shutters and gates, who closes them, how fast.
- Communication: how staff raise it, a code phrase, how guests are told what to do.
- Procedures checked against the fire plan so they do not conflict.
Do your people know them?
- Roles by position, with cover when someone is off.
- Staff have done the free ProtectUK ACT Awareness e-learning.
- A tabletop run-through done and gaps fixed.
- New starters briefed as part of induction.
How do you keep it current?
- Review date set, and a trigger to review after layout or staffing changes.
- Ready to notify the SIA when the portal opens.
- Records kept of what you did and when.
See how it comes together in the worked example.
Before you pay anyone: the Home Office says premises do not need to buy consultancy to meet the standard tier, and its guidance, the SIA’s guidance and the ProtectUK training are free. Neither the Home Office nor the SIA endorses any provider, including us. The legal responsibility stays with the person responsible for the premises; we help with the work, we do not take the duty off you.
Want a second pair of eyes on it?
Send the venue type, the most people you would expect in at once, and how many sites you run. We will tell you which tier you look to be in and whether the free route is enough before quoting anything.