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In Victoria, the number of Statements of Trade (SOTs) submitted by food traders continues to grow. The increase in food events and trading does not necessarily need to lead to an increase in compliance checks by council officers. The SOT Traffic Light priority flag was introduced in April 2020 to assist councils in prioritising which events to attend and which traders to compliance check once on site.
All 79 councils record and share the compliance outcome information of registered premises on OSCAR. These outcomes are used to calculate the Traffic Light Priority flag rating of premises. This valuable priority information can be considered when deciding if a compliance check on a premises is warranted.
What is the SOT traffic Light Priority flag?
Each class 2, 3A and 3 premises within OSCAR will be allocated a traffic light priority allocation. The priority is based on the:
The priority allocation will also be applied to all SOT records associated with the premises.
The priority allocation follows a sequence of colours, allocated depending on the status and compliance check outcomes of a premises.
The default priority for all new premises is Blue. A premises will keep this allocation until it has its first compliance check conducted whilst trading. Based on the outcome of this initial compliance check, the premises priority will then move to either Red, Amber or Green.
Key points about allocations:
The allocation only applies to Class 2s, 3As and 3s. Class 4 premises will not be allocated any traffic light Priority.
Only those compliance checks conducted whilst the trader is selling food to the public will impact the traffic light Priority allocation.
Critical (Red) and Major (Amber) non-compliance outcomes result in a 12-month priority allocation. Any subsequent compliance checks conducted during that 12 months will not change the priority allocation. After 12 months has elapsed, the priority will default back to Blue and the allocation sequence will reset.
A Green priority allocation will remain with a premises until its next compliance check, or until 12-months has elapsed since its last compliance check.
The Priority allocations should help prioritise the order (or necessity) of your compliance checks, through consideration of the recent compliance history of a premises. Prioritisation of the compliance checks to be conducted should run from those that are worst performing, to those that have not recently been compliance checked, with those that have recently been found compliant prioritised last.
In other words, compliance checks should be conducted on those premises that are rated Red first, then Amber, then Blue, leaving the Green until last if time allows.
It is expected that council officers use the traffic light Priority allocations to influence their decisions of which premises to inspect.
If a premises had a compliance check with a compliant outcome last week, does it need to be checked again?
Because of the allocation, officers can be assured that a good performing premises (Green) has continually maintained compliant outcomes over the previous 12 months. This premises may have had one or multiple compliance checks during that time, but all have resulted in a compliant outcome.
Of course, decisions on which premises to compliance check are still made at an officer’s discretion. A compliant business can still be inspected at any time. The Priority allocation is there to assist an officer in prioritising where to concentrate their time and effort.
The Priority allocation is there to help an officer choose how to prioritise their time and effort and gives a preliminary visual indication of the food safety performance of a premises. Officers should still review the compliance history of a premises before making decisions on how or when to conduct an inspection.
A Red or Amber Priority allocation tells an officer that a premises has received a critical or major non-compliance outcome within the last 12 months. The allocation stays with that premises for the entire 12 months, regardless of the result of any subsequent compliance checks conducted during that time. The Priority allocation will reset to Blue only after the 12 months has elapsed.
A review of the recent compliance history of a premises could indicate that additional inspections with compliant outcomes have been conducted since the critical non-compliance was recorded. This could influence an officer’s decision on how to prioritise any compliance check of that premises. In some circumstances, because of its subsequent outcomes, a Red or Amber rated premises may end up at the bottom of your priority list.
No. Traders do not have access to the compliance outcomes or the Priority allocations of their premises.
However, due to use of the traffic light Priority allocation, some traders with a poor compliance history may notice that they are getting inspected more frequently, and the good performers may notice the opposite. This is a desired and intended outcome.
Any reference to the traffic light Priority allocation of a premises is at the discretion of the inspecting officer.
