Green, yellow, red — those are the colors that would alert restaurant patrons to whether the establishment has passed health inspections, under rules proposed by the state Department of Health.

The colored placards would be posted near the front entrance. Green means pass, yellow means conditional pass and red means closed.

The new rules, which would also increase permit fees and require renewal every year instead of every two years, will go before the public at hearings scheduled on all four major islands for Dec. 2 to 6. Gov. Neil Abercrombie must approve the regulations before they can take effect.

"The whole point of the program is to reduce the occurrence of foodborne illnesses," said Peter Oshiro, the Health Department’s environmental health program manager. "It’s not intended to close more facilities. With the placard program in place, there will be a world of change. It will be more visible to customers."

The green, yellow and red system, inspired by a similar model in Sacramento County, Calif., would replace a current 100-point grading system. It would be the first major change to the rules since 1995.

Health inspectors will issue green placards to restaurants with no more than one major violation, which must be corrected or mitigated at the time of inspection.

Yellow placards will go to eateries with two or more major violations, which must be corrected within 24 to 72 hours.

Establishments issued red placards will be shut down due to an imminent threat to public health, such as a foodborne illness outbreak, overflowing sewage or severe rodent infestation.

The rules would apply to all food establishments — from food trucks to coffeehouses, caterers, bakeries and white-tablecloth restaurants. Kitchens that host "pop-up" restaurants would be held accountable for meeting health standards.

FOODIES at the monthly Eat the Street food truck festival Oct. 25 welcomed the placard concept.

"I think that’s a great idea," said Linda Haley of Hono­lulu. "You should know if they’re not passing health codes. There are a lot of people getting sick out there, and you just don’t know nowadays."

Haley said if a food truck looks dirty, she tends to move on to the next one. But she admitted that if the food is good enough, a yellow placard wouldn’t stop her from patronizing a place.

"I would definitely walk away from red," said Alice Ka‘aha­nui of Hono­lulu. "If it’s yellow I’d be wary of it, if it was a place I was trying for the first time."

Ka‘ahanui says a yellow placard would not stop her from eating at a business familiar to her. She said she’s also sympathetic to smaller, mom-and-pop operations that cook out of older kitchens.

The response from restaurant owners to the proposed rules was generally positive but cautious.

"I have not heard any complaints," said Bryan Andaya, chairman of the Hawaii Restaurant Association, which has approximately 500 members statewide. "We haven’t done a formal survey, but if there are complaints, we would hear about it."

Andaya, as chief operating officer of L&L Franchise Inc., which runs L&L Drive-Inn/L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, says he supports the new system.

"It goes a long way, providing consumers with information they need to make choices about where they choose to dine or not dine," said Andaya. "Now we’re all forced to hold ourselves up to the highest standards."

L&L, which operates as L&L Hawaiian Barbecue on the mainland, has had experience with letter-grading systems of A, B and C there.

Rainer Kumbroch, president of Roy’s Hawaii, expects a spirited debate at the hearings.

"Trying to improve public health is a good thing," he said. "The Health Department has been very fair in dealing with issues that restaurateurs have had in the past. I would hope that would continue. You just hope people’s businesses are not adversely affected because of an honest mistake or something that could be corrected."

He said that if a restaurant owner corrects a problem, the Health Department needs to commit to sending an inspector back within the 48- to 72-hour time limit.

Andaya said the agency also should educate restaurants about exact standards that apply to the placards and apply them equally to all establishments.

Sean Priester, owner of the Soul Patrol food truck and Li’l Soul Cafe & Catering on Bishop Street, said the restaurant trade is "a difficult, complicated business." Most restaurants want people to be safe and enjoy their food, but sometimes, he said, health inspectors just might come on a bad day when an otherwise clean operation is off its game.

"Ultimately this should be an opportunity to inform a restaurant where they stand and, in the end, give them the opportunity to make corrections if needed," he said. "I’m all about fairness."

AS AN EXAMPLE, Oshiro cited the recent inspection of a popular Oahu restaurant where two violations were uncovered: storing raw chicken above ready-to-eat sliced cheese, and keeping fish in a refrigerator at a temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit when 45 degrees or less is required to prevent bacterial growth.

Those two violations would result in a yellow placard, or conditional pass, he said.

During 4,457 routine inspections from September of last year to the same month this year, the Health Department uncovered 4,703 major violations recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as major contributing causes of foodborne illness, food contamination or environmental health hazard.

Hawaii has roughly 10,000 food establishments (6,032 on Oahu, 1,776 on Maui, 1,616 on the Big Island and 728 on Kauai).

The most common violation, both here and nationwide, is employee health and hygiene, according to Oshiro.

"Getting people to wash hands at appropriate times of the day is by far the most difficult," he said.

During another recent inspection, an employee handled dirty equipment in the kitchen and then failed to wash his or her hands before touching clean, sanitized equipment. The manager was informed, the employee was corrected and that scenario would have resulted in a green placard, or pass.

Oshiro says high-end restaurants are just as susceptible to violations as hole-in-the-wall eateries.

"There’s no distinction," he said. "Everything is about how management runs the operations. A lot of times it’s lack of knowledge, not willful disobedience."

Other major violations include not sanitizing food-preparation surfaces between preparation of raw and ready-to-eat foods and failure to thaw foods properly.

In the mid-’80s Hawaii had a placard system, Oshiro said, but it was ineffective because restaurants could still get a green placard (or pass) with up to six major violations and did not have to display it where it would be clearly visible.

The new rules call for posting the placards at the front door or in a window within five feet of the main entrance immediately following a routine inspection.

If signed by the governor, the new system would be implemented within two to three months, although an increase in average permit fees — to $200 from $46 — would go into effect immediately.

Eventually the Health Department’s goal is to offer an inspection database for public access online, similar to what Sacramento and Los Angeles counties do.

The department is also beefing up the number of health inspectors.

Oahu has 18 inspectors, with 26 expected by the end of the year and 31 by 2015. The Big Island has eight inspectors, Maui has four (with four more expected next year) and Kauai has three.

With more staff, Oshiro said inspections for some restaurants could occur up to three times a year rather than once every other year. The goal is to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses while encouraging voluntary compliance, he explained.

The Health Department also wants to award a special-recognition placard to places given three green placards in a row and that participate in a two-day food safety certification class.