Ranking Method and Scoring
Regardless of the rating, if a food establishment is open, it met acceptable health department requirements at the time of the last inspection.
The ranking of establishments is a comparison of individual establishment scores within their risk level, or in some cases, the type of establishment. Establishment scoring is based on specific violation points assigned to each violation. There are two types of violations: critical and noncritical. Some violations are considered swing violations. These violations allow the inspector to decide, based on the situation, whether the violation is critical or noncritical.
Critical violations may pose an immediate risk to public health. They are identified in the Health Regulation and on the inspection report with an asterisk (*) at the end of the violation heading.
Noncritical violations are violations that if not corrected may lead to problems in an establishment over time.
Violation points may be 1, 3, or 6 points. The points used to calculate an establishment’s score are as follows:
Highest Risk Violations | 6 points |
Moderate Risk Violations | 3 points |
Lowest Risk Violations | 1 point |
Swing violation points are determined by the inspector based on the risk to the public and receive 1, 3, or 6 points.
The score of an establishment inspection is based on the violation points accumulated during a routine inspection. Like golf, the lower the score the better the inspection and the better the ranking. Scores are compared to similar establishments within the same risk level and a percentile ranking is completed based on a statistical comparison. There are four risk levels in Salt Lake County. Risk level 4 establishments are only compared to other risk level 4 establishments. Risk level 3 establishments are only compared to risk level 3 establishments, and so on.
Percentile rankings are from 1-100%. A rank of 1 would be in the worst 1% of scores and a rank of 99 would be in the top 1% of food establishments.