Singapore now has its own trainers who will be able to teach alcohol servers to recognise and prevent alcohol-related problems among customers.

A two-day workshop ending Wednesday saw 12 people from the local hospitality industry certified as trainers for the Training for Intervention ProcedureS (Tips) programme, which originated in the United States.

Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore, which brought in the programme, and the Association of Bartenders and Sommeliers Singapore (ABSS), which will offer the training, hope to see servers and retailers of alcohol here pick up skills to serve alcohol more responsibly.

Tips was developed by Health Communications, Inc. President and chief executive Adam Chafetz came to Singapore to equip the trainers with skills such as having confidence in declining sales to intoxicated customers.

"We want to create a more sociable atmosphere between the servers and customers," he said. "You can distract them from being focused on drinking...with good conversation and good people."

ABSS hopes to train 100 servers in the coming year, starting with one class on Thursday. The Employment and Employability Institute is subsidising half of the $140 course fee for each local trainee.

Although it seems counterintuitive, teaching service staff to watch how much their customers drink is actually good for the establishments in the long term, said ABSS president Michael Cheng.

He added: "When people come to our establishments we want them to enjoy and at the end of the day get back home safely...We want repeated customers."