This is the second of a three-part series, in conjunction with Audiebant, looking at the implications for retailers from the impending Martyn’s Law. What actions do they need to consider in order to address its implementation within the UK.
The police and Counter Terrorism agencies have been recommending having a trained operative on hand to audibly deliver messages live in the event of a security incident. This is economically prohibitive for most organisations and represents a major deterrent to retailers looking to carve out a zoned solution from their existing audio infrastructure. What is being overlooked by the police and other stakeholders is that the messages and the management of them can be automated.
Using Audiebant’s AI-powered technology, onerous manual processing of messages has been removed. A user interface – that can be accessed via an app and desktop/PC has been created to enable zones to be selected and for these to be assigned specific recorded messages or live. These zones can be buildings, individual floors or departments. They can be grouped together so two or three external areas that were on different zones can be selected and the same evacuation message sent to all or any combination of these. Such messages can be played on repeat every five seconds, if required. When messages are playing, they appear on the system as ‘live’ thereby showing the operator what is playing to each zone in real-time.
These messages are individually created for each client involving the choice of wording, tone, and whether alarms or other sounds are required at the front and/or back of the messages in order to alert people to the type of message about to be delivered.
When one-off type messaging is required, there is a text to speech box involving AI capability. The user can either type or speak any message they want into the box and it converts this into a very clear, calm voice. Such messaging could involve an evacuation communication with very specific instructions, such as leave via the back of the building through the stock room and out of the rear door. This gives a very granular capability to the solution.
It is not an onerous or expensive process to convert retailers’ typical speaker infrastructure into a zoned system through which different public information messages can be delivered and which would make a huge difference to the safety of staff and customers.
So, if a large store or a shopping centre was to go into a lockdown-type mode amid a major incident then, it is possible, for instance, to send a message to external speakers telling people to go back inside the building while the internal messages are telling people to stay where they are or otherwise guiding them to safety. When involving multiple buildings, it is possible to lockdown one property while getting people out of another one through zoned messages, using AI-powered multi-directional and multi-layered messaging systems.
The latest emerging technologies mean existing PA systems can easily be upgraded into zoned and automated multi-lingual systems to enable all customers and staff, wherever they are, to receive the right instructions at the right time, thus reducing casualties and potentially saving lives.
Such initiatives are fully supported by the Police and Counter Terrorism agencies who spent two years investigating the most effective form of moving people to safety during the evacuation of a building and utilising safe zones. They found that the best form is audio within a zoned environment.
Under the new Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, better known as Martyn’s Law, which came onto the statute books earlier this year, staff at all UK venues or units with a capacity of more than 200 people now must undergo evacuation training, and sites with more than 800 people also need extra measures such as security staff. Businesses in the first category will have to put in place procedures to reduce harm to the public in the event of an attack. These include training employees to lock doors, close shutters, and identify a safe route from the premises.
The legislation is a landmark step in strengthening public safety across the UK and applies to a wide range of premises and events. Figen Murray OBE is the lead campaigner for Martyn’s Law, after the death of her son, Martyn Hett, who was one of 22 people killed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.
She said: “Martyn’s Law is a piece of legislation that mandates that venues have to keep customers and staff safe from terrorist attacks, so that every member of staff, from the CEO to the cleaning person, knows how to lockdown a building, how to evacuate, how to invacuate and how to communicate to keep themselves, their customers and staff safe.”
It puts an onus on premises, following recent attacks, to demonstrate that all four of these tenets of the act have been fully met to avoid the risk of potential compensation claims, with retailers and businesses fearing possible negligence liability.
The second category for premises with a larger capacity are required to put in place stronger measures, such as installing equipment, including CCTV and ground-breaking new technology, such as Audiebant’s AI-powered multi-directional and multi-layered messaging system. This uses audio and other technologies to enable different messages to be sent live to different customers or staff on different levels or in different zones, for instance, guiding customers away from danger or multi-faceted evacuations in the event of an incident, providing peace of mind for retailers, customers and staff. Messages can be pre-recorded in readiness to avoid any risk of fear or panic in a live situation.
It not only ensures compliance with all four tenets of the Act, but also demonstrates retailers have done everything they can, safeguarding against future claims.
Part three will follow next week.
Supported by:
https://www.retailinsider.com/2025/07/automating-zoned-messaging/