Secure the future of your business

What a fabulous bash the Publican Awards were on March 27.

A truly intergalactic experience all round from the moment that we were greeted at the door of the Grosvenor House Hotel in London by the crew of our spaceship to the somewhat foggy memory of our landing into the pouring rain of Park Lane at 2am.

I have to say that the sight of the brightly coloured spacesuits worn by the crew welcoming us at the door made a difference from the usual black garb of the door supervisors who are now a familiar sight outside bars, pubs and clubs throughout the country.

I wrote on February 19 about the proposals within the Private Security Industry Bill, presently wending its way through Parliament. The Bill has now been passed by the House of Lords and has been introduced in the House of Commons. As a result, we are getting ever closer to the establishment of a security industry authority which will operate a licensing system and a voluntary approved contractors scheme through which individuals or firms supplying security services, including door supervisors, can apply to be inspected by the authority and to seek approved status.

Whether the Bill will apply to intergalactic travellers too remains to be seen.

Just six days after the Bill was introduced in the House of Commons, the Court of Appeal delivered its judgement in a case concerning the legitimacy of council operated door registration schemes.

The background to that case is that in April of last year, a self-employed door supervisor, Karl Barry, challenged Liverpool council's requirement that all door attendants should be registered with them. A condition to this effect was imposed on the grant of all public entertainment licences.

Mr Barry said that the council was exceeding its powers in creating such a scheme. The High Court disagreed saying that the public entertainment licensing legislation allowed local authorities to respond to changing needs.

The Court of Appeal agreed, taking the view that such schemes serve to improve public health and safety and minimise the risk of nuisance to local residents.

Accordingly the Liverpool scheme was found to be lawful with the sole exception of the £50 fee it charged for registration. No doubt all the other many local authorities running such schemes in other parts of the country will have taken note.

So what do local authorities, and increasingly, licensing justices, expect door supervisors to achieve?

Their prime purpose is obviously to control admission to premises and to exclude "undesirables". All very well as long as such exclusion does not amount to racial, sexual or disability discrimination. For those particularly keen readers of this page, see the articles that I wrote on these subjects on June 7 and October 18 1999, or get in touch with me and I'll send you a copy.

However, they also have a crucial role to play in maintaining a good standard of behaviour in licensed premises and to remove troublemakers. A very difficult balancing role in many circumstances, particularly as too much force will lead to a risk of increased violence and the possibility of an assault charge.

It is with this in mind that managers and operators of premises employing door supervisors should ensure that all doorstaff not only comply with any local registration scheme in force but have also been properly trained for the role expected of them. Key elements of such training will include:

• prevention and management of violence

first aid

detection of drug misuse

knowledge of health and safety requirements

awareness of relevant licensing law requirements

fire precautionary measures

racial and other discrimination

co-operation with the police.You may well find that your local council insists that, as a minimum standard, any door supervisor employed at your premises should obtain the Door Supervisors National Certificate issued by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII). For further information on this, contact the BII at its head office in Camberley (telephone 01276 684449).

The increased concentration on training and the raising of standards has meant that the heavy "bouncer" image commonly associated with doorstaff is diminishing.

If you are contemplating an application to your local licensing justices or local authority at which issues of public order are likely to arise, as is often the case, for example, with applications to stay open for longer hours, it is as well to ensure that you have given adequate thought to your policy on door supervisors.

You would be well-advised to ensure that you are thoroughly familiar with the requirements of any local registration scheme and also that you have prescribed your own best practice basics covering such matters as:

• appearance and conduct of doorstaff

reporting and recording of incidents

communication with the police and any Pubwatch scheme in place

non-discrimination policy

adequacy of number of doorstaff.And although you might think that I am stating the obvious, you should ensure that you have made it clear that no member of your doorstaff should drink alcohol whilst on duty or carry an offensive weapon, which would probably include any alien-zapping laser gun wielded by the spaceship crew at the Publican bash!