Why Take This Assessment?
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 — Martyn's Law — is expected to come into force in spring 2027, and the statutory guidance is already published. If your premises regularly holds 200 or more people, you'll need working procedures for four things: evacuation, invacuation, lockdown, and communication.
Three of those four are communication problems. You can write the best procedure in the world, but on the day it depends on whether you can reach the right people, in the right part of the building, and tell them what to do — not just that something is wrong. This scorecard checks whether your existing screens, speakers and network can do that.
Who It’s For
Anyone responsible for a building the public walks into: Headteachers and business managers, Estates and Facilities Leads, IT and AV Managers, Operations Directors — across schools, colleges, councils, leisure and cultural venues, healthcare sites and emergency service premises.
If you're the person who'd be asked "what happens if we have to lock this building down at 2pm on a Tuesday", this is for you.
What This Scorecard Does Not Cover
We'll be straight with you. This assesses the communication and alerting half of the duty — the part that runs over AV and IT infrastructure. It does not assess your physical security measures, screening, or your formal terrorism risk assessment. Those need different specialists, and if your answers suggest you need one, we'll tell you rather than pretend otherwise.
Nobody can sell you compliance. The duty sits with your responsible person and stays there. What we can tell you is whether the kit in your building is up to the job.
Main Things You Will Learn
Whether you can reach every part of your building
Most sites can make a site-wide announcement. Far fewer can speak to one wing while telling another to stay put. Zoning is the difference between an evacuation and an invacuation, and most buildings find out they can't do it on the day.
Whether your alerting reaches everyone, not just most people
Audio alone misses anyone with hearing loss, anyone in a plant room, anyone with headphones on. Visual alongside audio isn't a nice-to-have under this Act — it's how you demonstrate the procedure actually works.
Where your gap actually is and what closing it costs
A prioritised list of what to fix first. Most sites already own two-thirds of what they need. The gap is usually smaller and cheaper than people assume — but you can't plan for it until you've measured it.
How It Works
Answer 12 quick
multiple-choice questions
Get your score across four areas instantly
Receive a prioritised plan for closing your gaps
What You’re Marked Against
Reach
Can you get a message to every occupied part of your site — and to one zone without triggering all of them? Zoning is what makes invacuation and partial lockdown possible at all.
Clarity
Can you tell people what to do, or only that something is happening? A sounder says "there's a problem". Martyn's Law expects "leave via the south exit, do not use the main entrance."
Accessibility
Does your alerting work for people who can't hear it, can't see it, or don't speak English as a first language? Visual and audio together, across every space the public reaches.
Evidence
Could you show an inspector that your procedures work — when they were last tested, who can trigger them, and what happened? Enhanced-tier premises have to document this. Everyone else should want to.
About the Creator
I'm Karl O'Connor, Head of Sales at Efficient Infrastructure Solutions (EIS).
For over a decade we've been designing and installing the AV and communication systems inside the buildings Martyn's Law now applies to — schools, councils, courts, fire stations, leisure centres and police premises across Scotland. We hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials.
We're not a security consultancy and we don't claim to be. What we know is what the screens, speakers and networks in these buildings can and can't do when it matters — because in a lot of cases we're the ones who put them there and still maintain them.
This scorecard is built from the survey questions we ask on site. I'm making it free because most organisations are still guessing at this, and guessing is expensive.
Free Offering
After completing your scorecard, you’ll also receive:
Your Readiness Report
A personalised breakdown of your four scores, what each one means, and a prioritised list of what to fix first — plus "What Martyn's Law Actually Requires You To Communicate", our plain-English reference on the four duties. Yours to keep, no obligation.
Want someone to walk it through with you?
Book a free 20-minute call. We'll go through your results, tell you honestly which gaps are urgent and which can wait, and point you elsewhere if what you need isn't something we do.
