RBST, also known as "server training," refers to educating owners, managers, servers and sellers at alcohol establishments about strategies to avoid illegally selling alcohol to underage youth or intoxicated patrons. Training can be required by local or state law, or a law/ordinance may provide incentives for businesses that undergo training. In addition, some individual establishments may voluntarily implement training policies in the absence of any legal requirements or incentives.

The goal of RBST is to decrease the number of illegal alcohol sales to underage youth and intoxicated patrons through education programs that:

• Help managers and servers/sellers understand state, community, and establishment-level alcohol policies and potential consequences for failing to comply with such policies (e.g., criminal or civil liability, job loss).
• Provide the necessary skills to comply with these policies.

Other information can also be included in server training, such as:

• The importance of checking age identification of customers who appear under age 30.
• How to identify fake IDs and what to do once a fake ID is confiscated.
• How to recognize situations in which adults are buying alcohol for underage youth.
• How to refuse sales to individuals who may supply alcohol to underage youth.
• How to identify intoxicated customers.
• How to refuse service to underage youth and intoxicated customers.
  

Why RBST is important for communities and alcohol establishments

• In many communities, youth are able to buy alcohol at commercial alcohol establishments. Several studies show that in communities where no organized efforts were done to reduce sales to underage persons, individuals who looked younger than age 21 were able to buy alcohol without showing an ID in 45-50% of their attempts. (1-4) The potential for illegal alcohol sales is also high at other venues such as community festivals (see restrictions at community events). Recent evidence shows that server and management training was not effective in reducing sales to youth at licensed alcohol establishments. (1, 5)
  
  
• Individuals who are obviously intoxicated are also able to buy alcohol at commercial establishments. Studies show that individuals acting intoxicated were able to buy alcohol in 62%-90% of their attempts, despite it being illegal to sell alcohol to obviously intoxicated persons. (6) Alcohol outlets and community festivals that undergo quality training may be less likely to sell to intoxicated persons. (1)
  
  
• Individuals who drink and drive often consume their last drink at a commercial establishment. (6) Responsible beverage service training may decrease the likelihood that customers will become intoxicated, thus decreasing the chance that customers will drive while intoxicated. (7, 8)
  
  
• In many states, under dram shop law, establishments can face potential financial liability for serving alcohol to an intoxicated or underage patron who later causes injury to a third party. Alcohol establishments that responsibly serve alcohol (i.e., do not sell alcohol to underage or obviously intoxicated persons) are less likely to face financial liability.
  

Considerations for passing this ordinance in your community

ISSUE: RBST programs may appear to be too costly for an establishment.
RESPONSE: Some communities decrease the license fees for establishments that implement RBST programs, thereby partly offsetting the cost of training. In addition, many insurance companies give discounts on dram shop liability insurance, as much as 25%, for outlets with server training programs. (9)

Note: Community members are strongly urged to consult with a local attorney to learn about state law requirements before attempting to pass a local ordinance on responsible beverage service training.

Considerations for implementation

• Without management training and support, changes in server or seller behavior are unlikely to be sustained. (9) Managers of alcohol outlets should participate in RBST along with servers and sellers. Managers who support responsible beverage service provide an atmosphere that makes adhering to RBS rules easier for employees.
  
  
• Some practices, such as allowing underage youth to enter the premises, may make reducing youth access to alcohol more difficult for alcohol servers or sellers. Outlets can be encouraged to evaluate existing policies and practices in terms of their effect on alcohol sales to underage youth and intoxicated customers. (1)
  
  
• Due to high staff turnover in many establishments, owners and managers need to develop an on-going system to train new employees. An establishment may want to employ an in-house trainer to reduce the costs of on-going server training. At the very least, an establishment should have in place the following practices to ensure that new employees have guidelines for responsible serving practices if they cannot be trained immediately upon being hired:
  • Managers who have received RBS training.
  • Clear, written policies concerning serving/selling practices of which employees are made aware and which are consistently enforced.
  • A monitoring system to ensure that all employees are adhering to responsible serving/selling practices.
    
    
• RBS training can be obtained from several sources. Outlets and communities may arrange training through local community colleges, police department or local RBS trainers. Available training programs vary in quality and price so it is important for communities and alcohol merchants to decide what their goals for RBS training are and find a program that best meets those goals. (10) A preference should be given to high-quality programs that use skill-building techniques rather than just lectures or videotapes.
  
  
• Positive media coverage on establishments that have implemented an RBST program may help gain public support for server training. According to a national survey of adults, 89% were in favor of policies that require server/owner training. Using support from community members may help establish and/or implement RBST programs. (11)
  
  
• Some communities may think that only certain outlets need to receive server training or that a one-time training session is adequate to learn responsible beverage service. All alcohol servers and sellers in a community should receive training, including those at on- and off-sale outlets (including convenience stores) and at community and other special events. In addition, training may need to be repeated on a systematic basis to obtain sustained effects.
  
  
• Commercial establishments are not the only location in which irresponsible serving practices can occur. Hosts of private parties also need to be aware of their responsibility to the guests to whom they serve alcohol (see Social Host Responsibility policy). Publicity surrounding the need for RBST programs may help promote discussion around responsibly serving alcohol in social settings as well.
  

How RBS fits into a larger context

Server training alone is not enough to reduce alcohol sales to underage youth. For the effects of the training to be sustained, additional policies and practices need to be implemented and enforced. The message of responsible beverage service can be reinforced through:

• Internal compliance checks or "secret shopper" programs (see compliance checks) (5)
• Warning posters (see warning posters)
  

Alcohol outlets are only one source of alcohol for underage youth, and thus, responsible beverage service and other strategies targeting alcohol merchants need to be complemented with strategies targeting other adults who illegally provide alcohol to underage youth.

What other communities have done

As of 2000, 23 states have server training legislation; 12 have laws that make server training mandatory, and 11 have laws that provide some sort of incentive for establishments that do server training: (12)

• Mandatory law: Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin.
• Non-mandatory law: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Texas.

It should be noted that a recent study of state-level server training legislation found the quality of current server training laws varied and all laws showed room for improvement. (12)

Several communities have also passed local server training ordinances. For example, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, an anti-underage drinking group received funds from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to develop a community coalition. The coalition, the Pottsville Partnership for Youth Alcohol Prevention, asked the mayor to chair its steering committee. With the mayor on the team, the partnership passed a city ordinance requiring all alcohol licensees in Pottsville to pass an alcohol server training course. (In Pennsylvania, the State Liquor Control Board offers businesses free training and technical assistance.) Eighty percent of the licensees completed the training in the first three months after the ordinance was passed. (13)

What research studies have shown

In Minnesota, we implemented and evaluated Project ARM: Alcohol Risk Management, a one-on-one consultation program for owners and managers of alcohol establishments. The five bars that participated in this pilot project received information on risk level, policies to prevent illegal sales, legal issues, and staff communication. Underage and pseudo-intoxicated purchase attempts conducted before and after the bars received the training showed that underage sales decreased by 11.5%, and sales to pseudo-intoxicated buyers decreased by 46% following the training (compared to bars who did not receive training). (1) (Note: Findings must be interpreted cautiously given the small sample size) . To order a copy of this study, click 11.6.123 .

Researchers from the Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, California, conducted an evaluation of a server training program at a United States Navy base. The impact of a server training program on customers' alcohol consumption was evaluated. The program consisted of an 18-hour training session for management and staff and a revision of establishment policies and job descriptions. Two months prior to and following implementation of the program, interviews were conducted with randomly selected customers to provide data on customer characteristics and consumption. Compared to a site where no RBST program was implemented, customer intoxication at the base was cut in half. (14) For further information on this study, please contact:

References

1. Toomey TL, Wagenaar AC, Gehan JP, Kilian G, Murray DM, Perry CL. Project ARM: Alcohol risk management to prevent sales to underage and intoxicated patrons. Health Education & Behavior, 28(2):186-99, 2001.

2. Perry CL, Williams CL, Komro KA, Veblen-Mortenson S, Stigler MH, Munson KA, Farbakhsh K, Jones RM, Forster JL. Project Northland: Long-term outcomes of community action to reduce adolescent alcohol use. Health Education Research, 17(1):117-32, 2002.

3. Wolfson M, Toomey TL, Forster JL, Wagenaar AC, McGovern PG, Perry CL Characteristics, policies, and practices of alcohol outlets and sales to underage persons. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 57(6):670-674, 1996.

4. Forster JL, McGovern PG, Wagenaar AC, Wolfson M, Perry CL, Anstine PS. The ability of young people to purchase alcohol without age identification in northeastern Minnesota, USA. Addiction, 89:699-705, 1994.

5. Wagenaar AC, Toomey TL, Erickson DJ. Preventing youth access to alcohol: outcomes from a multi-community time-series trial. Addiction, 100(3):335-45, 2005.

6. Toomey TL, Wagenaar AC, Kilian G, Fitch O, Rothstein C, Fletcher L. Alcohol sales to pseudo-intoxicated bar patrons. Public Health Reports, 114(4):337-42, 1999.

7. Lapham SC, Skipper BJ, Chang I, Barton K, Kennedy R. Factors related to miles driven between drinking and arrest locations among convicted drivers. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 30(2):201-6, 1998.

8. Fielding JE, Mullen PD, Brownson RC, Fullilove MT, Guerra FA, Hinman AR, et al. Recommendations to reduce injuries to motor vehicle occupants - Increasing child safety seat use, increasing safety belt use, and reducing alcohol-impaired driving. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 21(4 Suppl S):16-22, 2001.

9. Shults RA, Elder RW, Sleet DA, Nichols JL, Alao MO , Carande-Kulis VG, et al. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 21(4 Suppl S):66-88, 2001.

10. Toomey TL, Kilian GR, Gehan JP, Perry CL, Jones-Webb R, Wagenaar AC. Qualitative assessment of training programs for alcohol servers and establishment managers. Public Health Reports, 113(2):162-9, 1998.

11. Wagenaar AC, Harwood EM, Toomey TL, Denk CE, Zander KM. Public opinion on alcohol policies in the United States: Results from a national survey. Journal of Public Health Policy, 21(3):303-27, 2000.

12. Mosher JF, Toomey TL, Good C, Harwood EM, Wagenaar AC. State laws mandating or promoting training programs for alcohol servers and establishment managers: An assessment of statutory and administrative procedures. Journal of Public Health Policy, 23(1):90-113, 2002.

13. Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. Keep kids alcohol free: Strategies for action. Accessed online on 8/30/02 at: www.alcoholfreechildren.org/gs/pubs/html/8

14. Saltz RF. The roles of bars and restaurants in preventing alcohol-impaired driving: An evaluation of server intervention. Evaluation and Health Professions, 10(1):5-27, 1987.

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