Managing Protect Duty Compliance

With the UK government publishing its response to the Protect Duty public consultation that ran from February to July 2021, venues and organisations running events need to put in place measures that will help them to comply with new anti-terrorist laws. The new regulations are likely to be applied in proportion to the size of the venue and the size of the organisation, and it will be important that all staff members receive training in the new measures. Businesses of all sizes will need to be able to prove that they are compliant.

Risk management and avoiding liability claims

The legislation opens up venue management and security providers to potential claims should an incident not be managed adequately and places an onus on larger venues to formally assess the risks. Venues and operators will need to implement protective security and organisational preparedness measures, and a robust plan to deal with a terrorist incident, with which staff provided by security firms must be fully conversant. Strategies to improve and evidence venue compliance will be key.

?Those who have worked in the industry understand how hard it will be to deliver on these expectations, given the cut and thrust of demand, budget restraints and skill shortages. Delivery on introduction and throughout the venue’s day to day operations over extended periods will create new training and auditing requirements that must be able to withstand any probes, should the worst happen.?

?Flexibility to meet Protect Duty regulatory requirements

At SmartTask we have long worked together with our security service clients to create a flexible platform that is able to provide a solution for precisely this sort of requirement.?

?One of the main objectives of any security plan to meet the obligations of the Protect Duty is ensuring staff are trained on what they should do in the event of?a terrorist incident. ?

This includes:

• Understanding risk level
• Making sure they know which evacuation routes to use at each of the locations they are likely to work and under what circumstances
• What to do if the primary evacuation routes are blocked
• ?Identifying safe spaces
• ??Effective communication

?Constructing and delivering officer training requires detailed local knowledge of the facility granular enough to ensure clear and complete understanding from all officers of what is expected of them.?

Once training has been delivered, there is then the need for ongoing checking that officers in situ have retained the knowledge and can apply it quickly and efficiently should the need arise.

?Proof of Workplace training

SmartTask customers managing the security at large, public museum venues in London are electronically capturing the frequent real-time testing of officers at their workplace. This ensures officer knowledge is refreshed and front of mind while gathering evidence of employee and venue compliance. This solution not only improves officer and venue preparedness, it also helps protect service providers should investigations be made after an incident occurs.

?As iconic public venues across the country are opening back up and seeing visitor numbers increase after the lockdown, we at SmartTask are excited to be part of keeping the British public safe.

?If you would like to find out more about how SmartTask is helping Security businesses to manage their security and guarding teams, contact us today: [email protected] or call: 01494 444 044 or visit: www.smarttask.co.uk