Duty Managers Toolbox Newsletter 3
Licensing Inspector Compliance Checks
Tanya Morrison is a Licensing Inspector as part of the Environmental Health team at The Dunedin City Council. She was happy to give us the skinny on Compliance Checks.
Licensing inspectors, like any member of the tri-agency group (made up of Police, Te Whatu Ora (Public health) and licensing inspectors) can enter your premises at any time to conduct a compliance check. Most likely you’ve dealt with a licensing inspector before when obtaining your duty managers certificate and you’ve had to complete an interview.
So, what are we looking for and why do we check? Essentially spot checks allow us to have confidence that all provisions of the Act are being continually met. This includes having the appropriate signage displayed around the bar (Your licence, Host responsibility policy, duty manager’s name, menus/free water signage, promotion of taxis and signage stating you won’t serve intoxicated persons or minors), having food, free water and low alcohol options available.
We will also do a quick scan for any signs of intoxicated persons using the SCAB assessment tool. We may or may not also request a copy of records such as an incident log or list of all duty managers.
We aim to identify ourselves to the duty manager listed and generally just ask how things are going, if there’s been any issues recently etc. Unlike the Police though, we don’t tend to wear hi-vis vests, but we do carry a warrant with us (ID card) to verify who we are.
Compliance checks usually take no more than 10 minutes and we aim to address any issues found with the duty manager at the time, or if more appropriate with the appropriate manager and/or owner at a later date.
Common issues we find include not having the correct Duty Managers name displayed (or even being onsite!), not having a low alcohol option available (between 1.15 and 2.5% ABV) and not displaying menus/having sufficient food available.
Make sure there is a Manager on Duty with their LCQ and their Manager's Certificate is current.
We are also always available if you have any queries or concerns within your premises or would like to discuss training options for your staff, just give us a shout!
