A tried and true compliance strategy
In 2000, the Toronto Star ran a story titled “Dirty Dining,” which highlighted deficiencies in the city’s food inspection program after the amalgamation of six separate health units. At the time, compliance by restaurants with food safety regulations was much lower than it is today.
To address these deficiencies, TPH introduced the DineSafe disclosure program in the interest of providing transparency. This program provides public disclosure of inspection results by means of colour-coded signage posted at eateries and on the health department’s website, which enables patrons to make an informed decision. Eating establishments were graded by pass, conditional pass, and closed inspection notices depending on the severity of the infractions and non-compliance.
Two years following the implementation of this colour-coded disclosure program, compliance increased to 90 per cent. Today, this compliance remains above 90 per cent and the DineSafe program is world-renowned.
Research has shown that grade cards similar to the pass, conditional pass, and closed signs displayed in food establishments throughout Toronto and other cities in Canada and the U.S. compels establishments to make food sanitation improvements. Those establishments that do not conform are eventually forced out of business as the customer base declines.
Empowering the public with the ability to make informed choices is clearly a winning strategy. It greatly improves compliance with regulations, raises the bar on sanitation, and it can be argued the city’s reputation also benefits.
The emergence of the SwimSafe program
With the above statistics in mind, in September 2013, the City of Toronto’s board of health (BOH) requested Dr. David McKeown, the city’s MOH, to increase public awareness and access to public aquatic facility inspection reports. The goal was to develop and implement a public disclosure system similar to the DineSafe program, but for recreational water.
The two main components of the SwimSafe disclosure system are the availability of inspection findings on the web and posting of notices at the facility. They are designed to provide information about conditions at the aquatic facility and empower the consumer in making healthy, informed choices.
The first stage of this program involved developing and implementing the SwimSafe website. In October 2013, the website started to disclose key information about public aquatic facilities in Toronto. Similar to DineSafe, the SwimSafe website features an interactive map where visitors are able to identify, at a glance, whether or not the aquatic facility of choice meets the minimum standards. The green, yellow, and red markings on the map, at the precise address of the aquatic facility, indicate the inspection status. A green and yellow marking signifies a pass and conditional pass, respectively. However, red denotes closed.
A green pass indicates the facility was in full compliance with the appropriate regulation, whereas the yellow conditional pass shows there were some violations of the regulations that are not considered to be an imminent health hazard. A red marking indicates existence of an imminent health and safety hazard and, therefore, the aquatic facility is not in compliance with the regulations. As a result, a closure order for the premises is issued by a PHI under Section 13 of the HPPA. The interactive map also provides additional features for users, including a search function to locate aquatic facilities and access to two years of historical inspection findings.
