The Responsible Service Of Alcohol Course for Australia
The Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course is a qualification that most bar staff in Australia need to have. Not only bar staff but approved managers, bottle shop attendants, glassies, wait staff, floor staff, the list goes on! It's a course that teaches the safe and best practice that comes with selling and serving alcohol.
It's mandatory throughout the country but also teaches the tools of the trade. It divulges how to responsibly prepare and serve liquor, how to encourage responsible consumption, how to assist inebriated persons and when it is appropriate to refuse service.
Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) provide the RSA training. It's important to check what your state or territory requires in terms of RSA qualifications before starting a course with an RTO. This is because every state and territory has its own liquor governing body and therefore, its own RSA legislative requirements.
In Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania the RTO must be approved by the individual liquor authority before the RTO can deliver a QLD, NSW, ACT or Tasmanian RSA certificate - individually accredited in each individual place.
In Victoria you can complete training anywhere and then do a free, online Victorian-specific refresher. In Western Australia and the Northern Territory a Statement of Attainment for the nationally accredited unit of competency Provide Responsible Service of Alcohol, obtained anywhere in Australia, is an acceptable RSA qualification.
In South Australia supervisors or managers need to be an Approved Responsible Person, the application process has three steps - one of which is also to complete the Provide Responsible Service of Alcohol anywhere in Australia.
For WA, NT, Victoria and SA it therefore doesn't matter so much that the individual authorities in these states and territories accredit the RTO. However, the RTO does need to be accredited somewhere to lawfully deliver this RSA unit of competency Provide Responsible Service of Alcohol. This information is available from state and territory liquor authorities and the National Training Information Service (NTIS).
The RSA course can be delivered by RTOs online or in person. In person the RSA training takes up to six hours to complete, after which the RTO trainer will provide you with your RSA certificate. Online the training takes three hours to finish; you're immediately able to print out your RSA certificate after you've completed the online course. Online and in person the course content will not differ - both mediums are delivered by the RTO.
Online offers a more self-directed approach to learning; you can complete the course wherever you want to, whenever you want to. While in person offers the structured learning environment that some require.
James Knight writes on behalf of various businesses to help consumers find valuable information about products and services. For further information about this topic see http://rsacourseonline.com.au/rsa-course and for further information on the online course see http://www.rsacourseonline.com.au/
