Martyn's Law for leisure centres
Martyn's Law for leisure centres, sports halls and swimming pools
Martyn's Law applies once 200 people may reasonably be present at once. Where that number reaches 800, the duties widen well beyond what standard tier asks.
Does it apply to you
Your evening peak decides your tier, not a quiet weekday afternoon.
Count the whole site at one moment: gym floor, pool, studios and anyone waiting.
Count the whole site at one moment
Gym, pool, studios, sports hall, café and spectator areas are usually one premises. Add them together at the same instant, rather than assessing each area on its own.
200 to 799 is standard tier, 800 and up is enhanced
Where your busiest realistic moment reaches 800, you move into enhanced tier. Muster is built for standard tier and does not cover the enhanced-tier duties.
Freelance staff and waiting parents still count
Personal trainers, class instructors, coaches and lifeguards are present, so they count, whether employed directly or self-employed. So do parents waiting for a swimming lesson to finish.
Council and trust operators need to coordinate
Where a council owns the building and a trust operates it, work out who the responsible person is. Then record the answer.
Leisure trusts and councils often run many sites from one small head office team. One board shows every site's tier and status, rather than a separate exercise per building.
See how portfolios workWhat the standard tier asks
Four procedures, and a notification to the SIA.
This is what standard tier, 200 to 799, asks for. It is plainly not what enhanced tier asks for, and Muster does not cover enhanced tier.
- Evacuation
- Moving people away from danger, out of the building.
- Invacuation
- Moving people to a safer place inside the building.
- Lockdown
- Securing the premises so people cannot enter or leave.
- Communication
- Telling staff and the public what is happening and what to do.
What it does not ask, at standard tier: no equipment to buy, no security staff to hire, no product required. Detailed documentation is recommended, not required by law, at standard tier. Enhanced tier is different and out of scope for this page.
How Muster helps
One place to hold procedures across every site you run.
Muster drafts the four procedures for each site, then keeps a register of who has been briefed there. Muster also tracks your SIA notification and prepares the details, though it cannot file the notification for you.
Questions people actually ask
Straight answers for leisure centres and pools.
What is the difference between standard and enhanced tier?
Standard tier covers premises where 200 to 799 people may reasonably be present at once. Enhanced tier starts at 800. Enhanced tier carries further duties that Muster does not cover.
Our leisure centre sometimes tips over 800 on a busy evening. What then?
If it is reasonable to expect 800 or more present at once, you are in enhanced tier, not standard. That is a genuinely different set of duties, and worth getting specific advice on.
Do freelance instructors and lifeguards count?
Yes. Personal trainers, class instructors, coaches and lifeguards are present in the building, whether they are employed directly or self-employed.
Do waiting parents count towards our number?
Yes. A swimming lesson with 30 children can bring up to 30 waiting adults, all in the building at the same time.
We run several sites. Do we assess each one separately?
Each site is assessed on its own numbers. A council or trust running many sites can still see every one on a single board.
Do we need extra equipment for standard tier?
No. Standard tier does not require equipment, security staff or any particular product. It asks for four procedures and a notification to the SIA.
Find out where your site stands in about a minute.
Six questions, a cited answer, and a result you can print and take to your board.