As seen in the June edition of Queensland Bowler.
With the growing mountain of compliance obligations bowls club owners and operators have to consider, often the less pressing tasks will become “tomorrow’s problem”. However, when it comes to CCTV compliance, there are some requirements that literally must be done today to ensure that you are compliant under the Liquor Regulation 2002 (the Regulation) and the Liquor Act 1992 (the Act). For this reason, we thought it would be helpful to run through a quick CCTV health check for Licensees, so that you can make your way up and over that compliance mountain.
MAINTENANCE AND EQUIPMENT CHECKS
Licensees who trade after 1.00am within the Brisbane City Council area (BCC Licensees), or have a specific condition on their licence, must check and maintain the CCTV that they operate at their licensed premises in line with the Regulation.
Prior to opening on each day that your club trades, you must:
- check that your CCTV equipment is recording and operating smoothly before commencing trade; and
- record details of the date and time the equipment was checked, the name of the person checking the equipment and whether the equipment was working properly.
Additionally, Licensees are required to have their equipment checked and certified by an appropriately qualified person (someone with a current ‘security equipment installer’s licence’) at least every six months. This certification and details of the check must also be recorded in a register.
There is no time to waste in the event that your equipment is not working as it should, as you must arrange for it to be repaired within 48 hours and record details of the malfunction. This 48 hour period is not a grace period – Licensees must continue to abide by their CCTV obligations during that period if open for trade.
STORAGE OF CCTV RECORDINGS
In addition to the other obligations imposed on Licensees in relation to CCTV such as placement of devices and operational times, the Act and Regulation also outline the obligations of Licensees to retain CCTV footage. Affected Licensees must store each recording in a secure place at the premises which only the Licensee or a person authorised by the Licensee can access.
The CCTV equipment must be capable of storing footage for a minimum period of 28 days (the retention period). When an incident has been identified, the CCTV footage must be archived and retained for a minimum of one year after the retention period, unless it is given to a police officer or OLGR investigator (in which case the footage must be kept until written notice is received from the investigator). Where no incidents have been identified, the CCTV footage must automatically be deleted within 30 days after the retention period.
ADDITIONAL COMPLIANCE FOR BCC LICENSEES
Additional compliance requirements apply to BCC Licensees that trade after 1am. Accordingly, BCC Licensees must:
- install CCTV at each entrance and exit at the licensed premises that is ordinarily used by patrons;
- be recording from 8pm;
- clearly display relevant video surveillance signage to alert patrons that they are being recorded; and
- comply with minimum security staff numbers (one security provider for each 100 patrons or part thereof, up to 500 and at least one additional crowd controller for each 250 patrons or part thereof, after 500 patrons).
Awareness of your obligations under the legislation in relation to CCTV footage is the first step to compliance and we hope you are now on the right track to implement and maintain the required procedures at your club.
If you have any queries in relation to your obligations, please contact our Partner, Matthew Bradford on 07 3224 0353.
