Martyn’s Law is the new name as proposed by the Home Office for the law that will place a legal responsibility on premises to take steps to counter terrorism; previously officially termed the Protect Duty.
That will serve to mark Martyn Hett, the son of campaigner Figen Murray who was among those killed in the Manchester Arena bombing. Private security people will have to do more than make venues comply with Martyn’s Law (and document it). They will have to answer questions about what venues and staff would do, were the worst to happen, to save lives. Because the Manchester Arena Inquiry did more than identify, forensically, shortcomings in the Arena’s security and the emergency response on the night of May 22, 2017.
Time to arrive
The Inquiry pointed to a ‘care gap’; the time it takes from a mass casualty event – whether an act of terror, or an accidental explosion – to the arrival of the paramedics and other trained, equipped responders. Close the ‘gap’, and more of the injured will survive. Hence the idea of triage, and TST (this field, like so many others, abounds in abbreviations). That’s short for ‘ten second triage’ and was featured in the August edition of Professional Security Magazine, from the first aid kit supplier Steroplast’s exhibiting at Security TWENTY Manchester (who’s also exhibiting at ST London at the Radisson Red, Heathrow on Thursday, November 7). At the Steroplast stand at the Emergency Services Show at the NEC, courtesy of Janet McMahon we met James Boyd of triage and medical equipment supplier TSG Associates. To leave James a moment, NHS England has adopted ‘ten second triage’ for the event steward, security officer or even passer-by to apply; and MITT (major incident triage tool).
James said, you cannot do triage in ten seconds; it’s only a more memorable phrase – using MITT, triage takes perhaps 40 seconds or more. However, MITT is for the trained clinician to go through; a steward or security officer does not have the knowledge for that. Hence TST. As James said, after a terrorist attack such as the Madrid train bombings of 2004, people carried out triage naturally – by the time the emergency services got to stations, the uninjured were helping care for the injured.
More in the November edition of Professional Security Magazine, rounding up the progress towards Martyn’s Law so far. The second reading of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill on Monday evening heard that the law will likely not come into force for 24 months after Royal Assent, or in other words 2027.
