Howard Cannon, a restaurant expert witness and forensic scientist, last year released his book “Restaurant Ridiculous: Dram Shop & Alcohol Liability Personal Injury Lawsuits.” It advises the reader of negligent acts within management and signs of visible intoxication among those served. Normally I don’t read nonfiction, but I found this informative and digestible. It made me take a closer look at Cullman and overall issues with drunk driving.
This book could be a resource for restaurant owners and even lawyers to reduce liability and help teach responsibility among local restaurant staff. Anyone who serves alcohol or is simply interested in the signs of intoxication can easily read this and gain insight on the subject.
Cannon grabs your attention with the quote, “Every 39 minutes, someone dies on America’s roadways because of a drunk driver.”
This puts into perspective the urgency of not overserving alcohol to individuals and how doing so can lead to drunk driving, among many things.
He goes on to elaborate that consequences and deaths are only increasing with time.
The issues, according to Cannon, come down to training, management oversight and not recognizing the visible signs of intoxication.
In chapter one he amplifies that failure to manage alcohol safety is also risking the health and safety of customers and employees. Not only will this lead to fines and the revocation of a liquor license, but it can also cause legal trouble.
Chapter three, “The Greatest Hazards to Alcohol Liability,” states that the top four liability hazards in restaurants and bars are:
- Ignorance: “Those in charge don’t know what they are supposed to be doing, how to do it, or why it’s even important.”
- Apathy: “Those in charge don’t care or don’t care enough to do the job and take the role and responsibility that they are being paid for seriously. More often than not, they simply don’t care enough about people in general or your individual safety, health, and security at all.”
- Laziness: “Those in charge simply don’t do what they know they should be doing out of pure laziness.”
- Lackadaisicalness: “Those in charge are asleep at the wheel and forget to do the things that made them successful and things that they used to regularly do, mostly due to the boredom and lack of recent oversight and motivation. Yes. Really!”
The book goes in depth on these four faults in the restaurant industry. It made me consider local restaurants and how often staff or management overserves alcohol. How many accidents or fatalities could have been prevented by proper training? Or simply by hiring or being more responsible people?
How often does staff or management make exceptions for those they know? Surely if your friend came into a bar and asked you to give them another drink while they were struggling to speak or couldn’t walk – you wouldn’t serve them. Right? Hopefully you said “no.” Though not everyone would feel the same or care.
Find out more at https://tinyurl.com/2tkkwxs8.
