What does duty of care entail?

Duty of care in the context of serving alcohol refers to the responsibility of establishments and their staff to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety and well-being of their patrons. This includes actions that help prevent harm while customers are consuming alcohol, such as ensuring they have safe means of transportation to get home or facilitating ways for them to sober up before leaving.

By focusing on ensuring that patrons can safely get home or sober up, establishments are acting within their legal and moral obligations to protect their customers from the potential negative consequences of excessive drinking, such as impaired driving. Taking these steps helps reduce the risk of accidents and injuries, thereby fulfilling this important duty of care.

The other options, while they may contribute to a positive customer experience, do not directly address the primary responsibility of serving alcohol responsibly and safely. Providing free drinks or offering discounts does not inherently contribute to the welfare of patrons in the way that ensuring their safe departure does. Monitoring behavior, although important, does not encompass the full scope of duty of care without the additional consideration of patrons’ safe transportation or recovery.