It is 10am on a Wednesday and a biosecurity officer is at the depot gate for an audit nobody knew was coming. They want to see the records for three containers that came through last month, who unpacked them, whether those people were accredited, and the treatment record for a consignment that needed fumigation. The yard supervisor knows where most of it is: some in the freight system, some in a shared drive, the training certificates in an email folder belonging to a manager who left in June.
Container depots, warehouses, cold stores and treatment providers that handle imported goods under biosecurity control do it under an approved arrangement with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Sites that agree to be published appear in the department’s public approved arrangement search tool. Each arrangement comes with conditions for its class, and the department checks those conditions at audit. This guide puts the record-keeping and training side in plain words, and shows how OpsChase keeps it ready to show.
This is a general guide, not legal advice. The conditions for your class are the ones that apply to you, so read them alongside the department’s approved arrangements general policies.
Audits can arrive with or without notice
The general policies say regular and probation audits may be announced or unannounced, and that audit outcomes and audit rates apply to each site on its own. A depot with a clean history and a new warehouse down the road are judged separately, even under the same business.
So the test is not whether the records exist somewhere. It is whether the person on shift can find them while the officer waits. Records spread across a freight system, a spreadsheet and a supervisor’s phone are hard to pull together in an hour, and missing records at audit can mean a return visit and a fee.
The records to keep, in plain words
Class conditions differ, but the records an officer expects to follow tend to cover the same ground for goods under biosecurity control:
- What the goods are. The entry or declaration number, the import permit where there is one, and the bill of lading or air waybill.
- When they arrived and where they sit. The date of receipt and the storage location on the site.
- What was done to them. Inspection, cleaning, treatment and testing, with the results.
- How they left. Release from biosecurity control, or how and when they were disposed of, including waste and dunnage.
- Who was responsible. The accredited person who handled or supervised the work.
Records can be electronic or on paper, and can be your normal commercial documents. Class conditions set a minimum time to keep them: 18 months after the goods are released or disposed of in some classes, and two years in some of the revised class conditions. Check the period in your own conditions, and keep them longer if your customers or your business need it.
Training: accredited persons and direct supervision
Goods under biosecurity control must be handled by an accredited person or under their direct supervision, which means being in the area, able to see the work and able to step in. Under the training and accreditation rules, staff get there through online accredited person training from a provider listed on the department’s training page, or through in-house training that covers the topics the department sets: the role of accredited persons, containment, treatment and disposal, security, hygiene, inspections, waste and dunnage, and record keeping.
Three points catch sites out:
- Keep a record of your accredited persons. Conditions ask for it, and in-house training attendance records have to be shown when the department asks.
- In-house accreditation stays with you. It counts only while the person works for the business that trained them, so a new starter’s accreditation from another depot needs checking, not assuming.
- Re-accreditation happens. The department can ask for it after condition changes or non-compliance, so dates matter as much as names.
Some classes also need a specialist licence on top, such as a state or territory fumigation licence. That licence belongs on the same record as the biosecurity training.
Contractors are part of the record
Pest control, cleaning, fumigation, waste removal and facilities contractors all work in or near the biosecurity area. Their visits create records too: the treatment carried out, the photos, the certificate and who signed it off. If the fumigation report arrives a week late by email, the gap shows up at audit.
How OpsChase keeps a site audit-ready
OpsChase keeps the biosecurity evidence on one board for every site you run, beside the freight and depot systems that track the containers themselves.
- Consignment step records. Record each inspection, clean, treatment, storage move and disposal against the consignment, container or bay, with its entry, permit or bill of lading number, the accredited person, the time and the photos. Recurring checks run as timed rounds through scheduling, so a missed check shows on the board.
- Training and induction records. Accredited person training, in-house training attendance, specialist licences and site inductions sit on each staff profile with a completion date, so the team can check them before rostering anyone onto biosecurity work.
- Contractor compliance. Licence, public liability, induction and site-access details are kept on file for each contractor through contractor compliance, so your team can check them before booking.
- Work requests followed up to proof. A pest sighting, a wash-down bay fault or a container that needs cleaning is raised as a work order, sent to your regular contractor first and followed up until they confirm, attend and upload the treatment record and photos. Proof of completion stays on the job.
- Records kept for years. Jobs, photos, sign-offs and training history stay on the site, so a record from years ago is a search, not a box in the archive.
- Audit-ready packs. Export a consignment, a site-week or a contractor visit as a pack with every step, timestamp, certificate and the training or licence status on the day.
OpsChase is not a government system and doesn’t lodge anything with the department. It keeps your own records organised so you can show them when an officer asks.
Starting with one site
Pick the site that handles the most consignments under biosecurity control. Import its biosecurity areas and bays, your staff training records and your contractor book. Set the record each step needs: photos, the treatment certificate, the accredited person. Run the next inspection, treatment or contractor visit through OpsChase, then add the next site.
Read the biosecurity approved site industry page, see how warehousing and cold storage sites run their contractors, or book a demo with your site list, class conditions and contractor book. Check pricing when you are ready.
The next unannounced audit should be a search, not a scramble.