Airline pressure raising safety concerns?

[roundthebend]

I just read this on a website related to my current work:

"Air Traffic Service – partly privatised and half owned by a group of Airlines. Cost pressures from the airlines are beginning to raise safety concerns."

The statement relates to UK Air Traffic Services and seems to be focused mainly on NATS.

Is there any/much truth to this? What's people's views?

[Barnaby the Bear]

Well it would, as NATS is part privitised and partly owned by the airline group. ... Other than that, sounds like a bit of a kick in the teeth to the professional staff that work in NATS, suggesting they would be influenced by commercial pressures and safety compromised....... Take it with a pinch of salt. :ugh: :ugh:
Just my opinion.:}

[SilentHandover]

Barnaby,

Who said that it is not the staff that have raised the safety concerns?

[anotherthing]

I personally think that cost cuts are going too far, and some managers are taking it too literally.

Cutting the amount of people that are allowed to train per quarter (to save a couple of hundred quid) means that the people that do the training are getting less personal time on radar, which erodes skills.

This is happening at my unit on at least one watch...

Maybe it's something to do with the mergeing of 2 units in Oct 2007, thereby effectively halving the number of watch managers? Watch Managers control a budget at the moment so if they can be seen to be saving money, it will be a tick in the box for them when it comes to deciding who gets the jobs.

Or am I being too cynical in my old age?

The professionalism of the coal face workers is not an issue; at the moment safety standards are very good.

If management continue to try to cut corners though then things may change, though ATCOS would rather split sectors and put on MDIs than have an airmiss, so maybe it will all backfire if delays increase!!

Maybe a discussion that is best continued in a private forum??


RoundTheBend

I see from another thread that you are in the process of, or thinking of applying. Do not let ill informed media deter you.

You will be joining a very professional, conscientious group of people. The management are not particularly good on the whole, but the people that do the real work are stars.

Coal face ATCOs, ATSAs and ATCEs will never allow their personal standards to drop to the extent of compromising safety. If we feel pressured by management, it will be efficiency which suffers, not safety!

[roundthebend]

Thanks. As you hinted at, it did occur to me that I might be applying to join an industry with declining standards. However, I can't imagine that any human would drop their standards where lives are concerned - especially professional ATC staff.

The quote comes from a Driving Examiners website. They are currently staging industrial action over various issues which they say is the DSA working towards privatisation. The statement about ATC standards is being used as propaganda to aid their cause, so I instantly thought to query it.

I'm not a driving examiner myself, I am an instructor......and these strikes are causing chaos:ugh:

[anotherthing]

I would be interested in seeing a link to that web site - it is obviously talking about NATS, but it is a defamatory statement about workers, by an ill informed source!

[roundthebend]

http://drivingexaminers.org.uk/privatisation.htm

I'd best not visit any railway staff forums:uhoh: