Safe drinking environments

Reducing alcohol use and related harm in young people is a major European public health priority. Over 25% of deaths in 15-29 year old males, and over 10% in females, are associated with alcohol use, largely through violence, road traffic crashes and unintentional injuries. Much alcohol consumption by young people takes place in public drinking environments, including pubs, bars and nightclubs. Consequently, these venues and their surrounds can see high levels of alcohol-related harms. For example, high densities of drinking premises have been associated with increased binge drinking, violence, road traffic injuries and sexually transmitted infections. In addition to damage to individual health and communities, alcohol-related harm places large burdens on business and public services, including through absenteeism, health treatment, criminal justice sanctions and street cleaning after a night’s entertainment. Drinking environments are also important workplace settings for millions of individuals across Europe, who can become victims of other people’s drinking (e.g. through violence). Thus, managing drinking environments and implementing interventions to reduce harm among those visiting and working in drinking environments are growing priorities in many European countries.

The FASE (Focus on Alcohol Safe Environments) project was co-funded by the European Commission to develop a better understanding of measures that can be effective in reducing alcohol-related harm in drinking environments. The project has focused on interventions that can be implemented at local level, and involved a systematic literature review to identify studies that have measured the effectiveness of interventions to reduce harm in drinking environment. It focused on five key areas:

1. Responsible server/staff training interventions
2. Interventions to reduce underage access to alcohol
3. Policing and enforcement approaches
4. Interventions delivered in drinking establishments
5. Multi-component community interventions