Audit-Ready Before Summer: Boarding Compliance Playbook

With councils stepping up inspections ahead of the summer boarding peak, here’s how veterinary clinics and boarding/daycare facilities can get audit-ready fast—without shutting the doors or burning out the team.

1) The Inspections Are Coming: What’s Really at Stake

As bookings climb and kennels fill, local councils are increasing inspections. The risk is real: improvement notices, fines, or new conditions on your approval to operate. One clinic owner told me, “We do great animal care—but we’ve never formalised it.” That gap is where audits bite.

Document your business or get out. Your systems must be visible, current, and consistently followed—even by casuals and remote coordinators.

2) Decoding the Rules: State Codes + National Standards

The NSW Boarding Code sets standards for the care and management of dogs and cats in boarding establishments and requires facilities to support animals’ health, welfare, and natural behaviours. Nationally, the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines update and replace the old Model Codes of Practice and underpin what inspectors expect to see on the ground.

What inspectors expect to verify

WHS: risk assessments, PPE, safe handling, incident reporting.
Housing & welfare: appropriate enclosures, ventilation, temperature control, enrichment, and supervised exercise.
Supervision & staffing: coverage plans for peak hours and overnight checks.
Isolation: a functional isolation area with protocols for cleaning, entry/exit, and signage.
Records: intake, vaccination status (C5 for dogs, F3 for cats, updated within 12 months), cleaning/temperature logs, medications, incidents, owner consents.

Veterinary practitioners are also expected to ensure anyone assisting is competent and supervised appropriately—your training and delegation records should make that obvious.

3) The Hidden Cost of Non-Compliance

Non-compliance isn’t just a fine—it’s lost trust and revenue. Improvement notices can cap your capacity or impose conditions (like extra staffing) that destroy margin. Poor records can force refunds or pauses on new bookings. Worst case, your approval to operate gains restrictive conditions right before the peak.

Mini-case

A suburban daycare had spotless floors but no temperature logs or documented emergency drill. They received an improvement notice and a follow-up inspection within 14 days—costing two weekends of capped intake and a surge of refund requests.

4) The 90-Minute Internal Audit (This Week)

Grab the NSW Boarding Code and the national Standards and Guidelines. Print your last month’s logs. Then walk the floor with this rapid checklist:

Isolation capacity: confirm a dedicated, signposted room/area; check cleaning supplies and don/doff procedure posted.
Staffing plan: show supervision coverage by hour; include peak/overnight checks; note relief coverage for breaks.
Emergency procedures: fire, escape, bite/scratch, heatwave, disease outbreak; confirm posted flowcharts and a 24/7 contact tree.
Temperature & cleaning logs: review last 30 days for gaps; spot-check thermometer calibration and disinfectant dilutions.
Vaccinations: verify C5/F3 within 12 months on file before admission; flag expiries.
Incident & medication records: ensure forms are completed, countersigned, and filed daily.
WHS: check risk register, PPE, manual handling training, sharps/chemical storage.
Training records: ensure induction + refreshers filed; capture casuals and volunteers.

Make it a single source of truth

Put the SOPs, forms, and rosters in one shared folder with read-only templates and timestamped logs so remote rosterers and on-site staff follow the same version.

5) Document Your Business—So Anyone Can Run It

Systems reduce risk and raise standards. Turn “how we do things” into simple, visual SOPs your newest hire can follow by themselves.

One-page SOPs: purpose, when, who, steps, pass/fail checks, and where to file records.
Photos/diagrams: kennel layout, isolation flow, PPE sequence.
Checklists: opening/closing, enrichment schedule, outbreak response.
Role cards: supervisor, animal attendant, vet nurse; include competency levels.
Version control: owner, last review, next review date on each document.

When casuals and remote team members have clear instructions, compliance becomes repeatable rather than heroic.

6) Quick Wins in 7 Days (Resolve the Gaps)

Day 1: Fill log gaps; re-create missing data only if verifiable, otherwise note “gap closed as of [date]”.
Day 2: Post isolation and emergency SOPs next to the areas; add a 24/7 contact tree.
Day 3: Run a 30-minute WHS refresher; record attendance and upload certificates.
Day 4: Update vaccination policy: require C5/F3 within 12 months; create an intake checklist that blocks boarding without proof.
Day 5: Roster a named supervisor per shift; include overnight checks and escalation rules.
Day 6: Calibrate thermometers, label disinfectants with dilution charts, and standardise cleaning times.
Day 7: File SOPs and logs in your single source of truth; lock templates as read-only.

Result: the core risks are closed, and your evidence trail is clear.

7) Mock Inspection: Confidence Before Council Arrives

Stage a 45-minute rehearsal. One person plays the inspector; another is the floor lead. Walk through housing, isolation, WHS, and records. When a team tried this last month, the “inspector” asked, “Show me vaccination proof for today’s arrivals and the last seven days of temperature logs.” The lead opened the shared folder, pulled up C5/F3 proofs, and displayed gap-free logs. “Looks good—your supervision roster is clear, and your emergency flowchart is posted at exits.” That’s what passing feels like: simple, fast evidence.

8) Takeaway: Do the Audit Now, Not the Apology Later

Schedule a 90-minute audit this week. Verify isolation capacity, staffing plans, emergency procedures, and temperature/cleaning logs—and file your training records so you’re audit-ready. The standards exist to protect animals, people, and your business. Do today’s small steps to avoid tomorrow’s big penalties.

Audit-Ready Before Summer: Boarding Compliance Playbook