A teaching course is being set up to train waterside bar staff on the Broads national park to deal with someone in the water.

Eastern Daily Press: RNLI training staff at Broads Tours, in Wroxham, how to use throw bags.Picture: ANTONY KELLYRNLI training staff at Broads Tours, in Wroxham, how to use throw bags.Picture: ANTONY KELLY (Image: Archant Norfolk 2017)

The Broads Authority is supporting the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) on the course to prevent future drowning fatalities.

The 'Waterside Community Responder' scheme will supply potentially life-saving throw bags at key locations and training will cover how to use them.

The throw bags are 20m floating lines which, when packed in their own bags, are weighted enough to be thrown to a casualty. They can then be used to pull the casualty to safety by the person throwing the bag.

Steve Birtles, the authority's head of safety management, said: 'It's a great opportunity to build up a team of knowledgeable people who work in the Broads and are confident of how to respond should a member of the public enter the water.'

More information at https://rnli.org/pages/throw-bag-training