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Noise levels - keeping the peace

Complaints about excessive noise from licensed premises make up around 30 per cent of all complaints made to the Liquor Licensing Division.

As a licensee, it is your responsibility to minimise the impact noise from your establishment has on surrounding locality and to ensure it does not exceed set limits. This includes noise from:

entertainment
patrons at, entering or leaving the premises; and/or
motors such as air conditioning units, generators etc

Ask yourself:

are bottles and other refuse only being emptied into outside bins between the hours of 9am and 5pm?
are motors being regularly serviced to deter belt whine and obtrusive bearing noise?
is it necessary to run motors all night?
can motors be baffled, or repositioned away from neighbours?
is the volume of entertainment noise being monitored at least every 30 minutes near the source to ensure it does exceed predetermined limits?
are speakers facing away from neighbours?
have you walked outside to listen? (if the words to a song are clearly audible it's too loud)
are noise limiting measures being implemented (eg. closure of windows and proper use of sound-lock doors)?
have you considered double glazing your windows?
are signs in place requesting patrons to be mindful of the neighbourhood?
can you reposition the cab rank away from your neighbours?

Control of noise

The chief executive may impose conditions at the time of granting a new licence, (or in response to complaints received), if a venue is considered unable to sufficiently contain noise levels. Such conditions set volume levels for any amplified music or voices at the premises.

The criteria for imposing conditions are:

if no entertainment is to be conducted, or no acoustic report is submitted, the licence will specify a noise condition limiting the source level of noise to 75dB(C)
if an acoustic report indicates the premises can contain a specified noise level, a condition will limit any noise source to this level

All premises operating under an on-premises (cabaret) licence must be soundproofed to contain an internal source level of 110dB(C).

If you are considering entertainment for your licensed venue, you will need to use the services of an acoustic enginner or consultant. A list of Queensland acoustic consultants (PDF 16kb) is available on this website.

Penalties

If an Liquor Licensing investigator has grounds to believe that noise from a licensed premises is unreasonable, the investigator may require the noise to be reduced or stopped, or the premises be closed.

The investigator will issue a written notice to the licensee or person in charge of the premises at the time.

Failure to comply with an order can lead to disciplinary action including one of the following:

prosecution, which carries a maximum fine of $1875; or
show cause action, which can have results ranging from fines to cancellation of the licence

For more information read the Liquor Licensing Division noise restrictions fact sheet (PDF 94.7kb).

Last reviewed 12 February 2008.