What are the legal rules for using CCTV to monitor staff in bars and hospitality venues?

You can use CCTV in bars and beer gardens for legitimate business purposes, but there are important legal limits on how you can use the footage.

**Lawful monitoring reasons:** - Monitor and improve productivity in public/shared areas (e.g. spotting missed glass collection in the bar or beer garden) - Keep employees safe and prevent violence or theft - Ensure health and safety procedures are being followed (e.g. occasional monitoring of door staff interactions)

**Key restrictions:** - You cannot use CCTV to assess individual work performance in detail or micromanage staff activity - You must not install CCTV in private areas such as toilets, changing rooms, or break rooms - Remote monitoring (e.g. watching live feeds while away to direct staff on specific tasks) may fall into problematic micromanagement territory

Members advised being cautious about the purpose and scope of monitoring—legitimate safety and security reasons are defensible, but using cameras primarily to track productivity or give real-time instructions to staff on minor tasks may breach employment law.