Martyn’s Law

The University has a range of security measures already in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and visitors. Our Security and Estates colleagues keep our buildings secure and work closely with building managers and colleagues in our University accommodation teams. They continually review the measures that we have in place to keep everyone safe, liaising with external agencies where needed. We have comprehensive protocols in place to alert and support our community in case of emergencies.

Martyn’s Law has two tiers of requirements: Standard Tier which applies to venues with capacity for 200-799 people; and Enhanced Tier for venues with a capacity of 800 people or more. 

Since our University has many large-scale, publicly-accessible spaces across several campuses, such as lecture theatres, libraries and events spaces, the University of Edinburgh falls within the law’s Enhanced Tier. This requires: training relevant staff on emergency procedures; sharing information and creating action plans to reduce harm; and formal, documented risk assessments with appropriate mitigations and plans. These will be subject to audit by the Home Office sponsored regulator, the Security Industry Authority, who will also conduct inspections of premises and events to ensure compliance.

As we implement the requirements of Martyn’s Law, we will take the following actions over the next two years:

• Risk assessments and mitigations: complete in line with Martyn’s Law for all buildings, events and some open spaces.
• Rapid communication system: introduce an enhanced system to contact our staff and students quickly in the event of an emergency.
• Training and awareness: make staff and students aware of Martyn’s Law and provide security awareness and incident response training.
• Preparedness plans: agree enhanced procedures for handling, locking down or evacuating buildings efficiently.
• Community awareness: encourage a culture of vigilance and awareness so staff and students know when and how to report suspicious behaviour or other identified risks, such as abandoned bags in an unlikely place.
• Keeping our campus open: although there will be changes and visibly increased security measures, we will balance these new requirements with maintaining an open, accessible and welcoming campus.

The University’s internal CONTEST Board, established in 2024, will oversee the University Executive’s collective response to Martyn’s Law.

A Martyn’s Law Working Group, with similar membership to our existing Resilience Working Group, will oversee delivery and implementation, reporting to the CONTEST Board. Our Estates team will lead on implementation.

After implementation, the Group will conduct the detailed work necessary to ensure that Martyn’s Law, and other counter terrorism responsibilities, are met.