NATS dress code?
 

Does anyone know what the latest is on this? I remember them trying to introduce one at Swanwick a while ago, and now I hear they want one for NSL only (it will supposedly improve safety!)

They did introduce one at Swanwick but it was only about not wearing shorts, sandals and t-shirts with offensive pictures/words on them. How it improves safety though....

Apart from night-duties, jeans, trainers and T-shirts do not belong in ATC operations-rooms.
And don't even get me started on 'track-suit bottoms'.

No shirt, no shoes, no service
 

Does a shirt and tie make one a better controller? More composed perhaps?

I can understand T-shirts with "inappropriate" text/pictures but what does it matter what pants one wears? :rolleyes:

Jury is still out.

Full marks ZOOKER....

Collared short sleeve shirt and brown trousers do me just fine. A shirt and tie is for the arse kissers

Your 'pants' are obviously a personal choice, but if you are a professional, employed by a 'global leader', (as U.K. ATC staff are often perceived), then your external attire should reflect that accolade.

The only time I care about what people who I don't know or work with care about my professionalism is when I'm plugged in. If visitors think that my colleagues and I should wear office attire, that's their problem. I dress the same in work as I do in the golf course, it's within the rules, and it saves me having to change in the clubhouse :-)

Zooker and HD

Why does it make the slightest difference? If there are dignitaries due to visit then smarten up. On a day to day operational stint when the ONLY people I saw were unit management (are ties in this week?.....ooo does Richard wear one? ) and the security bod as I got frisked for yoghurt,it made no difference what an operational person wore.A controller or support staff should be allowed to wear what is COMFORTABLE and does NOT impinge on their ability to do the job.

When I started in 1978 there was a preponderance of ex RAF officers as ATCO's . They brought their choice of work wear which dated from THEIR era...shirts ties and jackets......this is almost 40 years later.....they are gone.....those attitudes to dress should be gone too.

I'm not an ATCer but I believe that ATCOs and ATCAs should wear whatever they want (within reason - no offensive text etc.) as they need to be calm, collected and relaxed/unstressed for when the brown stuff hits the spinny thing and to me that starts with being comfortable. If you aren't comfortable then you can't be as calm and relaxed as you could be. Especially when you have to concentrate for up to 2 hours solid at some units and it could all go mammaries vertical at 1:59 into your stint.

The Watch Supervisor might let one take one's jacket off if it's hot. Tweed sports jackets might be acceptable at the weekend...

Perhaps it could be explained to me why someone who comes to work looking like a hobbledehoy turns up for a validation board wearing suit, shirt and tie?

I fail to see why you have to dress like a tramp to be calm and relaxed, most airline pilots seem to perform reasonably well in times of crisis while wearing what could be described as formal attire,even to the point of wearing POLISHED shoes. One clown at a unit I was at used to wear a t shirt with FCUK emblazoned on it, and yes I do know what it stands for.:ugh:

That doesn't tend to happen these days Bren....

LFAJ
Dont know when you were on an airliner last but the people doing the important stuff have been doing it behind a locked door since 9/11 and as far as I am aware nobody appears in full uniform when important information has to be conveyed.:ugh:

I think there is a healthy medium between "dressing like a tramp", and wearing the full suit. A polo neck and trousers are perfectly acceptable IMHO, even a plain t-shirt in the summer. To be honest I wouldn't even care if one of my colleagues wore tracksuit bottoms, trainers and a hoodie, some regularly do on night shifts (pesky youngsters eh?). All are competent controllers, though I would never say that to their faces:}

I don't notice any difference in the "quality" of ATC when jeans, shirts and trainers are worn in Canada..compared to when I was in the UK and shirts and ties were the norm.
It might make you look more professional, which is fine, but it dosen't really affect one's capacity to do the job.
I checked out in the UK wearing a tie. I checked out in Canada wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Big deal.

"A polo neck and trousers are perfectly acceptable"
Slacks dear boy, slacks. Plain 'trousers' are never acceptable.


There was talk of a dress code a few months back but given that I wear chinos most of the time I couldn't give a monkeys. I steadfastly refuse to stop wearing my 'Titanic - built by the Irish, sunk by the English' t-shirt. On no account should the natives be allowed to forget their act of wanton vandalism.:}

The only people who care what we wear are the "suits". Says it all. Give me my shorts and flipflops any day, I'll certainly sport them at every given chance within the confines of the "new rules", and walk in, control in my usual manner, and walk out slightly more comfortable and relaxed. The days of the "shirt/tie" brigade are long gone, unless you want to kiss ass and jump up a ladder :ugh: