Responsible Service of Alcohol

No one likes to put a damper on a good time, but people still need to understand the kinds of liability they face when they serve alcohol, especially in a commercial or organized setting. You need effective strategies that let people enjoy themselves, help you serve responsibly and let you identify guests who drink too much. That's where responsible-service-of-alcohol programs come in.

The program that STEC uses, Serve it Right Saskatchewan (SIRS), uses three broad "learning cycles", covered in six modules.


Responsiblity

"First, you need to understand that when you are a provider of alcohol, you have a responsibility," says STEC's Manager of Training, Diane Cohoon. "Nobody tells people that. If you ask a bunch of people, 'Is it legal in the province of Saskatchewan to go out in public and drink as much alcohol as you can legally pay for?' the overwhelming answer is 'yes'."

"We use that at the beginning of the workshop," Cohoon says. "People are absolutely convinced that it’s your business how much you choose to drink, not theirs. So, the first thing we talk about is the fact that there is a 'duty of care.' Duty of care comes to us because of a long history of liability attached to the service of alcohol. There’s provider’s liability, occupier’s liability, and an individual’s responsibility and vicarious liability to go with the service of alcohol."

Product knowledge

The second learning cycle involves product knowledge. The SIRS program helps you understand how alcohol works in the body.

"It's important for you to understand that a drink is a drink is a drink," Cohoon says. "There’s a lot of myth associated with alcohol. So, understand the product you’re dealing with."

"Your goal as a server is to provide an environment where people are having a good time, but where you are not letting people binge," says Cohoon.

"There are all kinds of strategies you can employ to keep people safe," she says. There are also strategies for handling the situation when your best efforts fail.

Strategies for responsible service

For example, now that establishments can remain open later than in the past and entertainment starts later, it's not uncommon for guests to have a few drinks before going out.

"It's called 'pre-drinking', and you have no idea how much they’ve consumed," Cohoon says.

You need strategies for identifying when people have been drinking before they get to your establishment or event. That means paying attention to your customers or guests.

"It’s just a part of providing great customer service," Cohoon says. "Those people aren’t just faceless objects in the room with whom you drop off alcohol. These are your customers. Have a conversation and make an assessment about what’s reasonable to bring folks."

SIRS.ca workshop

"Everybody is part of the team. It doesn’t matter if you’re a buser or a server or working the door. You pay attention to the people in the room."

That's were a program like SIRS becomes such a handy tool for operators, servers or event volunteers. For example, in Unit 3, participants learn how to spot the early signs that show when guests are reaching their limit. Those signs aren't easy to spot if you don't know what to look for.

Then, in Unit 4, participants discuss strategies for working as a team to serve responsibly. This is where you consider typical "house" policies covering liquor sales or service, how to determine proof of age in Saskatchewan, and how to handle situations involving minors. You'll discover ways to build rapport so that you can assess customers' condition and intent. You also learn how to apply simple, effective strategies such as the "traffic light" system for pacing liquor service and how to serve liquor without causing intoxicated customers to risk foreseeable harm.

Unit 5 shows you how to intervene in a way that protects yourself and your customer. You'll learn ways to prevent intoxicated customers from driving, options to get them home safely, and what to do about those who insist on driving. You'll also explore ways to discontinue or refuse service and to remove a customer, all in ways that can avoid creating ill will - or landing you in an expensive lawsuit.

Protecting everyone involved

"The Serve it Right program is not just protecting the consumer," says STEC Director Carol Lumb. "That’s a huge part of it, but it’s also protecting the servers and the owner operators."

"The best strategies in the world will never be 100 per cent successful. But to have made the effort, to have the knowledge, to be seen to be acting upon that knowledge as responsibly as is humanly possible, will go a long way."

In other words, need to show that you have a policy of monitoring your customers or guests, following through on that policy consistently, and that you have strategies in place.

"All the law asks is, 'what is reasonable', ", Cohoon adds. We’re asking you to do what is reasonable."