Previously on this blog, we talked about drink spiking and what it means for the employees of an establishment. By popular definition, drink spiking isn’t technically specific to alcohol and could happen in any situation involving unattended food and drink. While that may make it not related to alcohol, and therefore RSA courses, something is certainly being overlooked here.

Most people believe drink spiking is done with the aid of other drugs like GHB, tranquilizers etc. and while it does occur to some extent, one thing that the authorities can agree on is that, especially in Sydney, a far more common method of spiking someone’s drink is to add more alcohol without their knowledge nor permission. This is where you, as the RSA trained server of these drinks, can do your part to ensure a safe environment.

The most obvious thing is to watch out for unusual orders. If someone orders a couple of cocktails with one of them being double or triple strength, then that should start sending warning signals immediately. Generally speaking, people enjoy the physical act of drinking as much as the effect it has, so ordering multiple strength drinks is somewhat uncommon behaviour for most.

Of course, just as patrons are encouraged to keep an eye on their drinks at all times, so should you be doing the same when preparing or mixing them. Customers in Sydney tend to trust the bartender or drink server and will naturally assume that if the drink is safe if it has come directly from the bartender’s hand to theirs. This is why it’s essential to never leave your work area unattended when mixing, especially if the other side of the bar is only an arm’s length away. A few seconds of you leaving to retrieve some ice or garnish is all it takes for someone to spike a drink. Then of course, the victim will never suspect a thing because the drink came directly from you.

Watching the news on most given days, it’s pretty obvious that even into their mid-twenties, most people are ill-prepared to handle alcohol well. Even more than that, the short and long term hazards of alcohol get worse the younger the person is. In an RSA course, these are things you’ll learn all about as well as your responsibility to protect them from these dangers.

As with anywhere in Australia, Melbourne teenagers will be fascinated with alcohol, which is no surprise. Drinking does have a certain allure to it, being a common pillar amongst nearly all cultures worldwide, its association with growing up and of course, the fact that it is forbidden to them only makes them want it more. With recent studies showing that more than half of Melbourne teenagers aged 15-17 had tried at least a whole glass of an alcoholic beverage in the previous six months, chances are that you were just like one of these teenagers too at one point. Since underage drinking is so common in Australia, many of us recognize its dangers but at the same time, see it as somewhat normal behaviour.

It’s common knowledge that teenagers are fairly predictable, but also completely fearless (or reckless) in what they are willing to try to get their hands on alcohol. While an RSA course will go through all the usual things like checking identification and such, some things that may not be clear are the other schemes that teenagers often try. Namely, getting an older friend, relative or even paying a stranger to purchase alcohol for them is a common tactic. It’s an offence even to supply alcohol to someone of age if you know it’s going to minors, so make sure you contact the police if they try to pull this one on you. If you suspect, but aren’t certain that the customer standing in front of you is buying on behalf of minors, a good thing to do is simply remind them that supplying minors with alcohol is an offence. Often, simply knowing that you see right through them is enough to deter the customer from going through with it.

Jobs that serve alcohol to customers are not likely to ever go away. Bartenders,
waiters, liquor store attendants, you name it, they’re not going to be replaced by
robots any time soon. That’s because the job is not just about serving drinks. Indeed,
a major part of the job is ensuring everyone stays safe, which is something a vending
machine simply can’t do. Having customers get into fights, get alcohol poisoning, or
try to drunkenly drive is a definite lose-lose situation for everybody.

For Sydney in particular, where there has recently been wide concern in the media
regarding alcohol related incidents, the people serving alcohol are the first and best
line of defence against a bad night out.

You can do an RSA course in Sydney, and that will teach you a lot about the basics
of keeping your customers safe. However, you’ll quickly find that your customers that
have had a few too many drinks don’t act much more sensibly than children.

Take this as an example. In Sydney and other places around the world, it was once a
popular idea to have breathalysers in bars. The reasoning behind it was that patrons
commonly lose track of how much they’ve drunk and could easily test their Blood
Alcohol Content (BAC) before ordering more or getting behind a wheel. While it
seemed like a good plan, bar staff quickly noticed that patrons were having contests to
see who could achieve the highest BAC. In effect, they ended up drinking more just
to outdo each other! Even worse, the people most likely to do this were those most in
danger of being involved in alcohol related incidents: young males.

Everyone knows alcohol impairs cognitive ability and this effect only gets more
extreme the more it is consumed. Your RSA certification is necessary, but is only the
first step to keeping your customers safe. Always remember to keep your eyes and
ears open for potential problems.

As far as students go, bartending and other jobs involving serving alcohol have
always been a popular choice for part time work. The hours tend to focus on evenings
and weekends, customers tend to already know what they want and tips alone can
add a lot to your income. While it’s true that on paper, RSA courses in Sydney are
supposed to teach you how to serve alcohol responsibly, you’ll typically get more
than that.

Your RSA instructor will usually be a veteran of the industry and this is a great
chance for anyone to ask questions about the most available jobs in Sydney. True,
they’re paid to teach the course, but if you ask nicely, you can find out a whole lot
more. Anything from what managers like, to unseen difficulties of the job to the
culture of these workplaces can give you a better idea of what to expect when you
start working.

For instance, when I did my RSA, my instructor had been a manager at some of
Sydney’s most popular watering holes for over twenty years. The benefit of his
experience helped everyone in the course to better prepare for work in this industry.
One thing he stressed in particular was that for those of us hoping to become
bartenders, a hugely important thing to get right early on was something called “Mise
En Place.” Essentially, what that means is placing all your bottles, garnishes, glasses
and anything else you need in just the right spot so that you always know exactly
where it is and have to move as little as possible to get to it.

We’d soon learn that the way the bar is set up is meticulously thought out and
messing with someone else’s “Mise En Place” is about as advisable as messing with a
bear cub in front of its mother.

No, that advice and lots of other little pearls of wisdom weren’t in the book or
printouts he gave us, but it was a great view into what working behind a bar is like. So
when you step into that RSA course, make sure you ask questions about whatever is
on your mind. You might gain some valuable information!

Most people getting a green card in Sydney are already aware of the most obvious
dangers in a construction site. Just walking by, any sensible person can see the things
designed to cut through steel, the work areas seven stories up and the tons of concrete
that could easily crush a person. But what about the dangers you can’t see?

There are many pieces of equipment on a construction site that generate hazardous
gases, especially when used in enclosed spaces. Carbon Monoxide in particular, is
colourless, odourless, tasteless and effectively undetectable in normal circumstances.
Early symptoms include nausea, vomiting and fatigue, progressing to seizures, coma
and could eventually be fatal with prolonged exposure.

In busy cities like Sydney, the level of Carbon Monoxide in the air can be quite high
to begin with. Coupled with the gas generating equipment in a construction site, that
level can rise to dangerous amounts before you’re even aware of it. You may have
heard that miners used to keep canaries around to deal with toxic gases, the idea
being that the bird would fall ill and stop singing before any miners could be affected.
Obviously, we can’t do that anymore, so how do we deal with these dangers today?

The best way, of course, is to monitor yourself. If you’re not feeling 100% or you
see someone else acting strangely, such as being off balance or slow to react, make
sure you tell someone about it. Since the early warning signs of Carbon Monoxide
poisoning affect mental acuity, even they can lead to potentially more serious
mistakes being made.

A green card course teaches you about best ways to mitigate the dangers of
construction and keep you aware of your surroundings. But it’s important to
remember that being aware of your surroundings also means being aware of yourself.

Your green card is not just about keeping you safe from the dangers of working in
Sydney’s construction sites. Indeed, one of the biggest draws of a mandatory standard
in workplace safety knowledge is the level of trust you can place in your co-workers.

Let’s put it this way. Imagine how the roads would be if a driver’s licence wasn’t
needed to get behind a wheel. At every crossing, roundabout and stoplight, you would
always be second-guessing whether or not other drivers know who has right of way.
Nobody would ever get anywhere!

In the same way, getting construction work moving along smoothly requires that
everybody is on the same page. It’s great that a green card gives you the knowledge
you need to stay safe, but knowing everybody else is up to date on OHS practices is
what makes the work possible.

Let’s face it. Construction sites can be overwhelming to the senses, especially in a
city as busy as Sydney. Between the dozens of workers performing even more tasks,
large vehicles constantly shifting tons of material around and what are likely to be the
loudest noises in the near vicinity, there’s a lot to keep track of. Taking a green card
Sydney course certainly helps you deal with the hectic nature of a construction site,
but it’s still simple fact that our heads only have eyes in the front. There is really no
way all of us can be completely aware of our entire surroundings at all times and still
get anything done.

For this reason, a big part of workplace safety is keeping your eye out for your co-
workers. Watch out for them and make sure they’re watching out for you. Sure, you
should always double check every safety precaution if you feel uneasy about it, but
knowing you’re in good hands lets everybody get on with their work with as little
stress as possible.

In a lot of ways, speaking out can be a vey difficult thing to do, especially if you’re
new on the scene. Previously on this blog, we’ve talked about who you can talk to
about safety violations, but let’s take a look at getting the courage to actually do it.

Starting work in construction, your mind can be focused on many things, like doing
your tasks right, not stepping on anybody’s toes and getting familiar with the work
plan. That’s why it’s one thing to get yourself a white card in Sydney and quite
another to act on the things you learned from it.

They say silence is the biggest killer, and that’s as true on a Sydney construction
site as anywhere. But causing a fuss about unsafe work practices is the last thing on
many people’s minds, particularly when your work doesn’t require you to go near the
hazard yourself. Some may fear being seen as too weak and inexperienced to cut a
few corners or worse, being branded a “snitch.”

The truth is that the practices taught in a white card course exist for a reason and
proper compliance can save lives. Unfortunately, you may find that some employers
and employees take shortcuts on these practices to save on time, money and effort.
No doubt you’ve seen pictures of some of the most extreme examples floating around
on the internet and attributed to various developing countries. Images of powerful
equipment held together with duct tape and small trucks carrying a load probably
three stories tall are common. We know that they happen because the workers cannot
afford better equipment and tend to laugh these off. However, we must remember that
they are humourous precisely because they are shockingly bad ideas.

We like to think if we saw such blatant safety violations here in Sydney, we’d
say something, but it’s an accumulation of little shortcuts that always seems to go
unreported. Most of the time, everybody gets out fine. But it only takes one incident
to turn a shortcut into a tragedy. If you see something, say something!