Russ 1987.

Methods	Non‐randomised controlled trial, unit of allocation = server.
Participants	Rural university town, USA Experimental = 16 servers Control = 9 servers Experimental and control servers from two taverns.
Interventions	Server training Training for Intervention Procedures by Servers of Alcohol (TIPS), approximately six hours in length. During the training, servers are given information on the physiological effects of alcohol that can help them identify specific earning signs indicating when a customer is about to overindulge. Next, servers are taught a variety of tactics for dealing with intoxicated customers or those who appear to be approaching their limits. Use of role‐plays and discussion. Participants must correctly achieve at least 70% in a written test in order to become certified servers. Control servers did not receive the training.
Outcomes	Observed server behaviour (using pseudo‐patrons) Exit BAC of pseudo‐patrons.
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Adequate sequence generation?	High risk	Seventeen servers employed at two local taverns participated. 50% of serving staff at each bar attended training, reasons for non‐participation included lack of interest and inability to attend the training. The remaining untrained servers were used as the controls.
Allocation concealment?	High risk	Inadequate.
Blinding? All outcomes	Unclear risk	Pseudo‐drunks were blinded to allocation status.
Confounders	Unclear risk	Any differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups are not reported.
Data collection methods	Unclear risk	Observations used to assess server behaviour; 49 visits (24 before and 25 after) were made and interaction with server was tape recorded.
Withdrawals & dropouts	Unclear risk	None reported.
Intervention integrity	Unclear risk	All experimental servers completed training.
Duration of follow‐up	Unclear risk	Study period over 11 weeks.