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Purpose

This document summarises the requirements under the Liquor Control Act 1988 (LC Act) for a licensee to keep a register which records if any of the following types of incidents¹ occur on a licensed premises or its surrounds: ²

• a person is refused entry because they are drunk or behaving in an offensive manner, including being violent, quarrelsome, disorderly, or indecent
• a person who has been refused entry to the premises repeatedly attempts to gain entry to the premises or behaves in an offensive manner, including being violent, quarrelsome, disorderly or indecent
• a person is required to leave or is removed from the premises
• a juvenile or suspected juvenile fails to produce evidence of age when required to do so, or the documentation they produce is suspected to be forged, false or counterfeit
• a person engages in indecent behaviour
• a person is drunk
• a person (including a person employed or engaged in the business conducted under the licence) is injured
• a local resident or other person complains to the licensee, an approved manager or an employee about noise, or any other matter related to the business conducted under the licence
• if the ID system³ for checking whether a person is a banned drinker is not operating properly or cannot be used for some other reason.

The register must be maintained by the licensee or an approved manager⁴, in a form acceptable to the Director of Liquor Licensing (DLL),⁵ which can include in an electronic format. Failure to do so is subject to a penalty of $5000. Information on the register must be retained for 4 years. If an authorised officer⁶ requests to see the register, it must be made available for inspection or for copies to be made from it. If this does not occur, a penalty of $5000 applies.

The register must include:⁷

• the name and address of the licensed premises
• details of what happened, including the date, time and location of the incident
• the full name of any manager who was on duty, as well as any person employed or engaged in the business conducted under the licence, or any crowd controller, who was present
• details of any action taken by the licensee, a manager, or an employee in response to the incident, including any action taken to notify the DLL, a member of the WA Police or any person engaged in providing emergency services.

An example incident register (PDF 67 KB) is available. Licensees can use a different format if they wish, but it must include all the required information.

Incidents that involve physical force

Additional reporting requirements apply if, during an incident, physical force is used to restrain someone, remove them from the premises or prevent their re-entry. Approved managers, licensees, and employees/agents of the licensee are authorised to use reasonable force in these circumstances⁸. In these cases, the licensee must prepare a written statement of the incident detailing:

• the reason why, and how the person was restrained, removed or prevented from entering
• if a crowd controller was involved, their name, address and crowd controller’s licence number.

If a crowd controller was involved, the licensee must:

• request each crowd controller who made physical contact with the person during the incident to provide the licensee with an account of the incident
• invite each crowd controller named in the statement to confirm the accuracy of the statement
• add a note to the statement identifying those crowd controllers who have confirmed it and those who have not
• provide copies of the statement and the note to the crowd control agent by whom each of the crowd controllers is engaged.

A copy of the licensee’s written statement of the incident must be included in the register, including the date and time when copies of the statement and note were provided to the crowd control agent which engages each of the crowd controllers.

Note that that the Security and Related Activities (Control) Act 1996 and the Security and Related Activities (Control) Regulations 1997 prescribe the records that must be maintained by crowd control agents. However, if an entry has been made in the incident register, as described above, and a copy has been provided to the agent, then no separate and additional record is required.⁹

Note that for a crowd controller to be authorised under the Act to remove a person from a licensed premises, they (or the agent that provided their services) must have received written authorisation to do so by the licensee, occupier or manager of a licensed premises. An example of the Crowd controller notice of authorisation form. It is best practice for a copy of such authorisations to be included with the incident register.

Additional guidance

Further information on licence requirements is available, or contact 61 8 6551 4888.

Disclaimer

The factsheet on this subject is general information and is not professional advice or a legal opinion. The information is provided on the understanding that any person reading it must take responsibility for assessing its relevance and accuracy.

Notes

1. LC Act s116A details the requirements that licensees need to meet
2. Liquor Control Regulations 1989 (LC Regs) r18EB(1)
3. LC Act s152Z, an ID system established by the Director which checks whether a person is a banned drinker in relation to the sale of packaged liquor from licensed premises
4. LC Act s116A(1) provides that the penalty for not maintaining an incident register is a fine of $5000
5. LC Act s116A(2) provides that the register must be in a form acceptable to the Director
6. LC Act s3 provides that an authorised officer is the Director, an Inspector, a person delegated by the Director or a police officer
7. LC Regs r18EB(2)
8. LC Act s115(4)(c) sets out that an authorised person may use such force as may be reasonably necessary. Authorised person is defined at s3(7)
9. The Security and Related Activities (Control) Regulations 1997 states at r40(2A) of that the incident does not need to be recorded separately if it has already been recorded in the incident register that is being maintained as part of the requirements of the Liquor Control Act 1988.