RSA and standard drinks

As an employee working on licensed premises and delivering RSA (responsible service of alcohol) you are expected to provide ACCURATE information to customers on alcoholic beverages including types, strengths, standard drinks and the percentage of alcohol they contain.

Different drinks contain different amounts of alcohol. Check the labels on containers of beer, wine and spirits, you will notice that they state the concentration of alcohol as a percentage per 100ml of volume (eg. 4.8% alcohol/volume for regular beer).

The concept of a ‘standard drink’ is a measure not of how much liquid has been consumed, but how much pure alcohol has entered the system. The National Health and Medical Research Council defines a standard drink as one which contains 10 grams of pure alcohol. Click here to find out more information about the Australian Standard Drink.

Don’t assume a glass holds one standard drink (eg. many wine glasses hold amounts greater than 100mls). A common mistake when serving wine is assuming the “line” on the glass indicates a standard drink. The line is actually a service line to assist management with budgeting and stock control. In most cases the service line contains far more than one standard drink (many lines indicate a level of 150ml).

The Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) online training course presented by Club Training Australia contains more information about standard drinks to assist you provide accurate information to your customers.

You can purchase an RSA QLD course for as little as $24 here or the Bar & Gaming package for only $28.  Check out the bundles here.