‘Q de Festa!’ creates training videos on Responsible Alcohol Dispensing targeted at people working behind the bar

Friday, 20 December of 2019

Responsible Alcohol Dispensing is essential in lowering the risks associated with alcohol consumption.

As part of the ‘Q de Festa!’ project, the Deputy Directorate General of Drug Dependency at the Public Health Agency of Catalonia (ASPCAT) wants to boost knowledge of Responsible Alcohol Dispensing (RAD) among people associated with the nightlife sector. For this reason, it has developed a series of videos that simulate real situations which bar staff face and offer strategies to prevent these situations from becoming problematic.

What to do when a minor orders alcohol beverages? How to act with a person who has shown clear symptoms of drunkenness? What is the alcoholic content of a beer or a mixed drink? These are some of the questions that the videos address. They try to provide answers to questions related to the law, risky behaviours and possible conflict situations in a fun, clear way.

The targets of these audiovisual materials are not only nightlife venue workers, venue owners or concert promoters, but also members of organisations and administrations associated with the promotion of health and with lowering risks who are also willing to disseminate this info.

 

'Q de festa!', the nightlife quality seal that guarantees safer and healthier venues.

Responsible Alcohol Dispensing is one of the ten health criteria that discos, town festivals, university festivals and other festivals have to guarantee in order to secure the ‘Q de Festa’ quality seal. The others are: breathalysers, condoms, food, earplugs, non-alcoholic cocktails, access to water, providing information on transport and having staff trained to prevent sexual violence and ready to act on it when it does occur.

Currently, 65 venues in Catalonia have the ‘Q de Festa!’ seal, and it is estimated that 140,000 people benefit from the programme every year. In ten years, 123 training sessions on RAD have been held for 2,384 people.

 

‘Q de Festa!’ at music festivals

These videos on RAD seek to improve access to this information among workers at mass events like large music festivals. One of the goals of the 2020 programme is to expand the number of music festivals that are granted this seal. Currently, Primavera Sound, Sonar, Canet Rock and Circuit Barcelona are part of ‘Q de Festa!’

 

Around 80 youths end up in the emergency room every week due to alcohol intoxication

According to the survey ESTUDES (which stands for State Survey on the Use of Drugs in Secondary Education), in Catalonia one out of every four youths aged 14 to 18 (27.4%) has engaged in binge drinking in the past month, meaning that they have drunk a large number of alcoholic beverages—five for men and four for women—in less than two hours.

At weekends, the emergency rooms at hospitals or primary care facilities attend to an average of 79 youths under the age of 30 due to alcoholic intoxication.

 

CH1. Sale of alcohol to minors

CH2. Alcohol content

CH3. What are the effects of alcohol?

CH4. Intervention (action protocols that should be in place and basic guidelines).

CH5. Intervention (the last drink).

CH6. Intervention (how to say no).

CH7. Avoiding violence

 

Q de Festa!’ recognises nightlife staff as key stakeholders in making recreational entertainment venues healthier and higher-quality environments.