PSEUDO-DRUNK-PATRON EVALUATION OF BAR-STAFF COMPLIANCE WITH WESTERN-AUSTRALIAN LIQUOR LAW

Compliance of bar staff with the Western Australian liquor law prohibi ting service to drunk patrons was assessed through the deployment of a ctors trained to behave in a drunken manner. The serving practices of 23 licensed premises (19 hotels and four nightclubs) were examined. Du ring 120 visits to hotel and nightclub bars, more than 350 drink order s were placed by pairs of pseudo-drunk actors who ordered up to three drinks each on each visit On placing these drink orders, pseudo-drunks were refused service by bar staff on only 12 occasions. The rate of r efusal of service across all premises was 10 per cent of visits. Parti al interventions by servers, such as offering food or low-alcohol. or nonalcoholic drinks, occurred in only four instances of the 120 visits . Qualitative observations and results obtained from a separate study examining a sub sample of the servers who trained in responsible servi ce of alcohol are discussed.