Compliance Audits

As a busy Licensee time is a precious resource and whilst you may have the best intentions to be fully compliant with your obligations under the Liquor Act 1992 and other obligations relating to security, fire safety, footpath dining, health and safety and noise laws, expert advice can ensure a fresh set of eyes confirms you are meeting your compliance goals.

Ensuring your venue has appropriate measures in place to minimise risk of alcohol related harm on your licensed premises is now more essential than ever. OLGR has recently introduced laws that can lead to your premises being classified as high risk if a single glassing incident occurs on your premises. OLGR has also recently introduced laws that mean if you are given an on-the-spot fine, prosecuted, or subject to Disciplinary Action you may have to pay an additional annual license fee of between $5,000 and $20,000 in the following financial year.

There is an increased community focus on alcohol related harm, and the penalties associated with offences involving violence, minors, unduly intoxicated patrons have not only never been higher, but are also aimed at licensees as often as they are at the offenders themselves.  It has never been more important for licensees to have a program of regular, documented, independent compliance monitoring to assist in avoiding such incidents wherever possible but also in being able to demonstrate due diligence and other defenses if an incident does occur.

Our Director, Russell Steele worked in the Liquor Licensing Division and Office of Liquor & Gaming Regulation for 9 years resigning in 2009 as a Principal Compliance Officer. Russell has extensive experience in establishing and enforcing compliance policies and procedures, major prosecutions and Disciplinary Actions, has acted as lead investigator on the Statewide Flying Squad, and as Manager, Liquor Compliance for the Brisbane Region at varying times. Russell has worked in and conducted compliance operations in every LLD/OLGR region across Queensland and has a broad knowledge base of every major licensed premises and entertainment precinct in the State.

RSA Liquor Professionals can send our expert staff to your premises during peak business periods to assess your compliance with the Liquor Act 1992 and other obligations and can provide a detailed confidential report to management highlighting breaches detected with a comprehensive list of recommendations for ongoing improvement. RSA Liquor Professionals provides three basic compliance audit services as follows:

• Spot Inspections – from $200 (incl GST)
• Regular Maintenance Audit (Quarterly) – from $600 (incl GST); and
• Full Premises Audit – from $1200 (incl GST)

(*) prices may vary due to the size of the premises, staff required, location and specific client needs.

Our staff can attend overtly and conduct an inspection with the assistance of the Licensee, or Approved Managers to assist in your staff development, or can attend covertly to monitor compliance without the knowledge of your operational staff and management.

A detailed quote of inclusions for each audit service is available on request. Some common inclusions in our audit services are:

• A single or multiple site inspection/s during ordinary or extended trading hours;
• Monitoring staff RSA practices;
• Ensuring appropriate signage is displayed;
• Ensuring license document is available for inspection;
• Monitoring compliance with Principal Activity, Licensed Area and Trading Hours;
• Monitoring security and staff ID checking, eviction and patron monitoring practices;
• Monitoring compliance with all conditions of your license and conditions of any extended hours approvals;
• Monitoring glass service and clearing procedures;
• Monitoring compliance with the premises RAMP;
• Review of internal and external advertising and promotions;
• Review of CCTV systems, camera angles, image storage and related obligations;
• Review of RSA & RMLV Training registers;
• Review of Incident and Security registers;
• Review of closing practices and procedures;
• Basic review of Fire, Health & Safety, Council, Noise and other typical obligations; and
• Verbal or written report and advice on practices and procedures to meet compliance obligations, demonstrating due diligence measures and continuous improvement.

A small investment in documented external review and advice combined with regular review and monitoring of your compliance practices and procedures may save you thousands of dollars by avoiding on the spot fines, or defending potential prosecutions or disciplinary action. Let us find where you may be non-compliant before OLGR or Police do and remedy the problem without the fines.

Note:

• RSA Liquor Professionals is not a law firm. Any advice given does not purport to provide legal advice or contain all of the possible procedures that could be developed to enhance harm minimisation at licensed premises.
• Information provided is only a guide which should stimulate licensees into developing procedures and review mechanisms which can be tailored to their needs and should not be treated as exhaustive.
• All information gathered during any consultation or inspection process will be kept in strict confidence in accordance with RSA Liquor Professionals privacy obligations.
• RSA Liquor Professionals can only provide advice on breaches detected at the time of our inspections. By highlighting possible improvements to practices and procedures that can be identified you may have improved defenses for any subsequent breaches detected by Police or OLGR but this may not apply in all cases. Our goal is ideally to assist you in avoiding Liquor Act and related offences wherever possible.