Water safety training delivered to 11 members of staff at Billing Aquadrome

A water safety training session has been delivered to 11 members of staff at Billing Aquadrome ahead of the busy summer period.

The team from NFRS, in partnership with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), visited ‘The Venue’ at Billing Aquadrome on Friday March 11 to equip their staff with both the knowledge and practical skills needed in an emergency.

The scheme gives staff the skills to be a first responder should an incident occur and offers preventative training to help them stop people going into the water in the first place.

The training also covers effective communication with the emergency services and how to rescue someone using a throw line.

Darren Carson, prevention team leader at NFRS, said: “It was great to come to Billing Aquadrome to teach them the key techniques needed to keep people safe in the water.

“The enthusiasm that the staff had to learn was fantastic and they are already talking about how they can further practice their skills.”

Billing Aquadrome’s operations manager Steve Bonifas said that he and the team of ten staff that completed the course found the training valuable.

He said: “It was brilliant to be able to learn the skills needed to help keep people safe around water and we had great support from the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue team.

“We have large amounts of people on site during peak times and being part of something like this gives great safety awareness to the park.”

Nick Gayton, Station Commander for the joint operations team, was keen to highlight the importance of the partnership between NFRS and Billing Aquadrome after the flooding in 2020.

He added: “Between us, we carry out lots of work and have staff in place to keep residents, visitors and staff safe when they are here and both parties are equipped to give the best safety response possible.”

To express an interest in a business receiving Waterside Responder training, please email Darren Carson on [email protected]