Safe from harm – Protect Duty

There is some new legislation going through Government called “Protect Duty” and this is about protecting the public at events.

The Protect Duty is aimed at making public areas as safe as possible such locations include sports stadiums, festivals, music venues, pubs, restaurants, clubs, places of worship, parks, medical centres, retail outlets and any other open space.

These changes are to add additional safety and security measures designed to help mitigate risks of terrorism etc.

These include security plans, processes, and procedures to overcome issues that staff may face during their normal workday.

There may be additional searches of personal belongings such as handbags and shopping bags.

Security risk assessments are every bit important as Health & Safety risk assessments. They should consider areas such as possible terrorist threats, security of data, security of the premises, monitoring and the security of visitors.

The risk assessment can then be actioned through the introduction of training and company system policies and procedures.

The Protect Duty document is to protect public accessible locations in the UK from terror attacks and ensure that the organisation is prepared and has a tried and tested action plan available.

As a part of this process there needs to be training and awareness for all staff including refresher training AND Regular courses.

Sadly, in recent years the UK has witnessed an increase of terrorist attacks in publicly accessible locations.

The threat levels in the UK are constantly changing as of today (Feb 22) we are currently set to SEVERE.

The threat levels are designed to give a broad indication of the likelihood of a terrorist attack. They are as follows:

LOW – an attack is highly unlikely

MODERATE – an attack is possible

SUBSTANTIAL – an attack is likely

SEVERE – an attack is highly likely

CRITICAL – an attack is highly likely in the near future

Any publicly accessible location is a potential target. That being the case its essential for business property owners to understand the risks they face and consider appropriate mitigations.

The Protect Duty is likely to include a requirement for protection security to be included in the risk assessment and provided by the business owners such as CCTV. In the past CCTV has been examined after an event but the new suggestion is for CCTV to be proactive rather than reactive. This could potentially stop any issues from occurring.

By implementing a positive safety culture, encouraging vigilance, and providing effective training including fences, barriers, bollards, blast resistant glazing, intruder detection systems can all help to minimise these issues.

It is crucial for EVERY business to be aware of any possible threat and what action needs to be taken to prevent this from happening. Regular scenario training Is also a great idea.

It’s a known fact that the better prepared a business is for such an event the quicker it will return to normal post incident.

A key objective of the proposed Protect Duty is to drive forward an improved security culture whereby owners/operators consider informed security considerations and implement reasonable and proportionate security measures.

So, if you need any support with putting together your “Protect Duty” systems please contact us today on 07770 302504 or email joanne@chestnutassociates.co.uk