Certain businesses offering food and liquor might need the services of commercial security monitoring companies if they’re subject to separate licensing requirements. The condition is pursuant to the 2006 Food Safety Act, the 1911 Health Act, as well as those mandated by local government by-laws.
Generally, businesses serving food and drinks are subject to the conditional requirements of Section 3.2.2 of the Food Safety Standards.
The safety of all people in and out of licensed venues like restaurants, is a top priority in Australia. After all, safety is a public interest issue especially in Perth. The city is in fact ranked as the fifth safest city in the whole world.
In Australia, licensed venues or events deemed as high risks, make coordinating with a commercial security monitoring company a highly important requirement.
What are High Risk Licensed Premises?
Reference to a licensed premise or event as “high risk” denotes public places like:
Nightclubs, pubs, bars, and other businesses that operate at night time, up to the following day’s early morning hours.
Licensed premises that serve liquor for consumption are considered high risks, inasmuch as there is always the possibility of violence sparked
by some unruly behavior of intoxicated customers.
High risk premises may also include concert or entertainment venues or even shopping malls that attract a great number of people. Employees and customers are exposed to the possible dangers of overcrowding, crowd surges and stampedes. Recently in the US, shopping malls have become target venues for mass shooters.
The objective of having a proper security and monitoring system is to quickly detect criminal and antisocial behaviors. That way, security personnel and law enforcement officers can take immediate actions to address safety and security issues endangering the people within and outside the vicinity of the at-risk licensed venue.
Additional Requirements Imposed on High Risk Businesses
The aspect of high risks, albeit present and associated with such types of businesses, can be granted with a license to operate if they comply with additional requirements. These are deemed necessary in enhancing the protection provided to employees and customers within the premises and vicinity of the business.
Aside from putting security personnel and systems in place, such types of businesses seeking license approval will be required to beef up their monitoring systems with Closed Circuit Television Video (CCTV) cameras inside and outside the business or event premises.
CCTV installations must be compliant with the current requirements of state and local Australian Police Forces. Generally, the purpose of CCTV cameras is for monitoring the flow of people and to have a recording of images that can help in identifying individuals who were involved in the occurrence of untoward incidents.
In addition to CCTVs, venues that expect to draw a massive number of people, will have to have crowd control strategies and equipment for preventing crowd surges.
The additional licensing requirements all aim to reduce the risks faced by employees and customers during the long hours of operation.