Although still in the consultation phase, the Protect Duty is expected become law in the near future. What can retailers do now to get ready for their new legal duties?
The new Protect Duty, also known as Martyn’s Law, is set to establish legal requirements designed to improve protective security and preparedness at publicly accessible locations, including retail spaces.
In January 2022, the Government published an initial response to the Protect Duty public consultation, although the response did not specify when the duty will become law the consultation process indicated some of the intended requirements.1
We look at three key areas: physical security, safety procedures, your organisational culture, and consider what action you may need to take, even if this is reframing measures already in place.
Any additional physical security measures required under the Protect Duty will depend on the size and scale of your retail operation. Many large retailers will already have security integrated into their buildings, while smaller shops may only need to take proportionate and reasonable measures, such as shutters and locks.
Medium-sized businesses that have not had a strong security focus before will likely need to do more to meet the new Protect Duty and it may be worth these companies getting external advice from security professionals on what to install.
The steps any business takes should be targeted at disrupting assailants before they can act and minimising losses if they do attack. Specifically, the measures an organisation puts in place should aim to:
Having a well-developed security culture across your retail sites will go a long way towards meeting the Protect Duty. This might comprise of:
There are lots of useful tools and information publicly available from organisations such as the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NACTSO). These can help you assess whether you are doing enough to secure your publicly accessible retail spaces and what you need to improve.
You can start building awareness amongst your employees of the different threats and how they can help prevent them. Consider accessing See, Check and Notify (SCaN) training and ACT Awareness training, which is free of charge to businesses for your employees.
Look at what you are already doing and how you can deploy it to address terror threats specifically. For example, could you build on your health and safety and fire safety procedures? The chances are much of this activity can be mapped across to meet the new Protect Duty. Look at the risk assessments you already perform and see how you could adapt them into a template for your Protect Duty assessments.
If you know there are things you could do to improve the safety and security of the public when they’re shopping with you on your premises, it’s advisable to do them now. This will help build resilience as your organisation prepares to meet its new obligations when the Protect Duty is made law.
Also, if you are moving or building new premises, think about how you can build in security from the start. For example, you could integrate surveillance systems into the design of your store or control access points – anything to make it harder for assailants to attack.
Getting ahead of the game could lead to potential financial benefits, especially when moving or designing a new site, as ‘bolting on’ is always more expensive, creates inefficiencies and can have a greater impact on image, layout and operations.
If your retail business would like to understand what it can do now and next within its existing resources to meet its Protect Duty obligations, get in touch.
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-publishes-protect-duty-consultation-findings
