Licence Holder and Staff Duties, Record Keeping, and Signage
This domain covers the paperwork side of a licence: what the licensee must display, who must be certified, what records must exist, and what must be produced on demand. Inspectors can walk in during operating hours, so the file has to be current every shift, not tidied once a year.
Licence and conditions
The licence (or a copy, as the AGCO directs) must be posted where it is visible, and every condition on it is a legal requirement: hours, capacity, areas of operation, whether minors are allowed, whether takeout or delivery is permitted, and any security conditions. A condition is not a suggestion; breaching one is a licensing offence even if nothing else goes wrong.
Staff certification
Anyone who sells, serves, delivers or handles liquor needs a valid Smart Serve certificate, and you must be at least 18 to serve. Certificates should be kept on file and available to an inspector; the manager on shift should know who is certified and where the certificates are.
Signage
The AGCO prescribes signs that must be posted and legible, including the notice that it is prohibited to sell or serve liquor to a person under 19, along with other required notices such as hours and health warnings. A sign behind a coat rack or taped inside a cupboard satisfies nobody; check the signage at opening.
Records that matter
- Incident and refusal reports: time, date, description of the patron, what was observed, what was said and done, witnesses, whether police or EMS attended, who was notified, signature.
- Training records and certificates for every server and for the manager on duty.
- For special occasion permits, the permit itself plus event records and security arrangements.
- Anything else the licence conditions require, such as capacity counts or security logs.
Write records while events are fresh and never back-date them. Accurate, contemporaneous notes are the difference between a due-diligence defence and a penalty.
Worked example
An inspector arrives at 10:00 p.m. and asks for proof that the three people working the bar are certified. Two certificates are in a folder; the third new hire’s is “at home.” The licensee has failed a basic record-keeping duty, and the inspector can also ask why an uncertified person is serving. The fix is a simple register at the door holding a copy of every certificate.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming a manager’s certificate covers the whole staff.
- Treating signage and licence posting as decoration that can wait.
- Writing an incident report days later from memory, or “improving” it afterwards.
- Forgetting that conditions printed on the licence are enforceable rules.