'Renegade' controllers leave pilots flying blind: air chief

[man on the ground]

[QUOTE]in 2007 900 ATCs took 15,700 sick days, an average of about 17 days sick leave each./QUOTE]

Some clarity of these figures should be asked for. It has been suggested these figures included 'everyone' that asa deems to be a 'controller', even those 'not active', such as supervisors, but more importantly, those on long term sick leave (operations, medical disqualification pending resolution one way or the other, cancer).

Perhaps someone should ask how many sick days per 'active controllers', how that compares with previous years, and other industries?

[Driscoll]

Let's look at other facts related to the trumped up sick leave numbers as well.

ATC's are legally obliged not to work when suffering from medical impairment.

Add the following as published by the Vic government

Shiftwork - health effects - Better Health Channel.

Shiftwork - Health Effects

Research findings are beginning to show that shiftwork can be hazardous to your health. There is a small part of the brain called the ‘circadian clock’, which monitors the amount of light you see, moment by moment. In the evening, when the light starts to wane, your clock notices and prompts a flood of a brain chemical called melatonin, which gives the body the signal to fall asleep. Overnight, melatonin levels remain high. They drop at daybreak and remain low during the day.

During the day, other chemicals (neurotransmitters) – such as noradrenaline and acetylcholine – increase in the body and keep you awake. This system keeps you synchronised through the day–night cycle. Many other functions of the body – including temperature, digestion, heart rate and blood pressure – fluctuate through the day, tuned by the activity of the circadian clock.

This changing rate of activity over each 24-hour period is known as circadian rhythm. A person who works nights, or starts their working day before 6am, runs counter to their circadian rhythm. This may put them at risk of health problems.

Your metabolism at night
An important body function, which follows the circadian rhythm, is the internal body temperature. This temperature increases through the day. It reaches the lower level in the early hours of the morning and reaches the maximum level late in the afternoon.

The tendency to fall asleep and stay asleep occurs during the decreasing phase of the temperature circadian rhythm (between midnight and 4am). As the body temperature rises, it is more difficult to stay asleep. This is why night workers who try to fall asleep at 8am find it very difficult and also find it difficult to remain asleep through the day.

Increased risks
A person working the night shift is at greater risk of various disorders, accidents and misfortunes, including:

• Increased likelihood of obesity
• Increased risk of cardiovascular disease
• Higher risk of mood changes
• Increased risk of gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation and stomach discomfort
• Higher risk of motor vehicle accidents and work-related accidents
• Increased likelihood of family problems, including divorce

In addition:

• The sleep deprivation, which can be caused by shiftwork, may increase the risk of epilepsy in pre-disposed people.
• Shiftworkers with diabetes can experience difficulties in controlling their blood sugar levels.

Sleep problems
Shiftworkers get, on average, two to three hours less sleep than other workers. They often sleep though the day in two split periods, a few hours in the morning and then an hour or so before going to work at night. Night workers can find it difficult sleeping during the day (particularly in Australia). It’s difficult to keep the sleep environment dark as well as free of noise.

Rotating shifts
The best rotating shift pattern is still undecided. For the most people, rotating forward through day, afternoon and night shift is better than backwards (night, afternoon then day). The frequency of rotation is also controversial. Some people advocate prolonged rotation, such as two to three weeks. Others advocate short rotations of two to three days. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

It takes about 10 days for the body to adjust to night shift work. However, it is common for night shift workers to revert to daytime routines for a day or two during days off, which tends to make the circadian rhythm unstable.

The amount of hours (8-hour versus 12-hour shifts) is also controversial. It can be said that 12-hour shifts stretch the body’s tolerance as far as possible. It’s very important that no overtime should be allowed during a rotation of 12-hour shifts. Another risk to sleep is when a worker on seven 12-hour shifts a fortnight uses their free time for another, almost full-time job.

Where to get help

• Your doctor
• WorkSafe Victoria Tel. [phone] or 1800 136 089

Things to remember

• The body is synchronised to night and day by a small part of the brain known as the circadian clock.
• Body functions – such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, digestion and brain activity – fluctuate over each 24-hour period, under the guidance of the circadian clock.
• A shiftworker is at increased risk of health problems, such as digestive upsets, obesity and heart disease.

Throw in an ageing workforce with family responsibilities, most people in my group are late 30's to mid 40's with kids ranging from 3mths to late teens.

Include a number of people doing silly levels of OT, up to 3 shifts per fortnight.

You don't have to be Einstein to work out why AsA's sick leave levels might be a little high. But apparently you do have to be smarter than TFN.

The sad fact is AsA will probably force through a sick leave cap. Some poor sucker will come in when not up to it due to being out of sick leave and have an incident and they will be hung out to dry. TFN meanwhile will be counting his dollars at another organisation he is in the process of running into the ground.

Think it could be time to update the CV.

[SM4 Pirate]

Spotted on the Civil Air website:

How many Operational Controllers are there really?
Airservices Australia have recently claimed there are 972 Operational Controllers.
An internal survey & audit by Civil Air reveals the following numbers:

Full Time Equivalent 'Full Performance Controllers': 601
Full Time Equivalent 'Part Qualified' Controllers: 84
Supervisors & Check Controllers working Air Traffic: 27
Trainees working Air Traffic: 40
.........................
TOTAL FULL TIME CONTROLLERS
COVERING TRAFFIC ROSTER LINE: 754!
So: Where are the other 220 or so?? Good question.

[divingduck]

SM4

I think for the sake of accuracy you should lose the 40 trainees working traffic...until they have a licence, they shouldn't count!

[SM4 Pirate]

until they have a licence, they shouldn't count!

I know what you mean, but some would have a licence, they are changing groups or locations. I think it's not unrealistic to count them, as no doubt ASA is counting them in their total figure of 972 controllers. It still begs the question of where are these people hiding? Discount the ASA figure by 80 or so for long term illness, LWOP and Mat leave; so where are the 140 controllers? All on projects, in management, in training, where? Are any of them coming back to a console?

[undervaluedATC]

from www.civilair.asn.au

Media Release - A response to Airservices Australia

Tuesday, 29 July 2008 Press Release - July 29 2008

A response to Airservices Australia

Recent allegations by Airservices CEO Greg Russell that controllers are deliberately closing airspace are baseless and insulting to the professional Air Traffic Controllers of Australia.

Air Traffic Control is the business of providing safe passage of aircraft throughout the airspace administered on behalf of the Australian people. Civil Air and its members take this responsibility extremely seriously and despite years of staffing reductions, corporate and operational restructures, Australian ATCs have continued to provide a service that on world standards is second to none. Recent analysis shows Australian controllers to be amongst the most productive in the world.

The increasing rate of closures and service reductions is symptomatic of a system slowing failing despite the efforts of those that actually provide the services. Controllers and support staff are constantly required to bridge gaps in coverage by way of overtime or handling multiple pieces of airspace alone where risk modelling has already determined a need for 2 or more controllers to manage the workload.

The onset of the current ATC malaise corresponds closely with the latest management restructure in which over 100 operational ATC Supervisors were appointed as front line managers commencing March 2007. Significantly, these supervisors were previously part of the coverage of ATC rosters, day in day out helping with the workload of providing an ATC service. Since the restructure the vast majority of these new managers have been limited to purely supervisory tasks, no longer licensed to provide air traffic control at the workface. The direct impact of this has been a reduction of available ATCs to cover roster shortfalls.

In parallel with the management restructure Airservices, the government owned business responsible for delivery of ATC, commenced a restructure of airspace and the controllers that operate it. This requires virtually every controller in major centres to retrain for new airspace and procedures. Quite apart from the obvious additional workload associated with the actual training the effect is to vastly reduce the flexibility of rosters as controllers drop qualifications in one area to train for those in another.

Airservices currently quotes a staffing shortfall of 17 controllers plus another 14 in critical operational support positions. They have also publicly admitted to long term systemic reliance on overtime to keep the system afloat. There is no provision for staff absence (sick leave or other) except by way of utilising overtime. Airservices has identified a requirement to carry staff at 110% of minimum operational requirement simply to remain viable. This places the shortfall at approximately 100 staff.

Despite figures quoted it appears that the average sick leave per full time employee in the public sector is between 8 and 9 days per annum (as at 2006). The figure for ATCs is approximately 11.5 as quoted internally by Airservices. This is for a workforce that provides shift working coverage 24 hours a day 365 days a year and is subject to stringent medical requirements and fitness for duty standards far above the public norm. ATC sick leave figures equate closely with those in other similar shift working environments such as nursing and policing. A controller who is not up to the legal standard is a potential danger to everyone and must stand themselves down from duty or face strict penalties defined in Civil Aviation Safety Regulations.

Air traffic controllers are provided with sick leave as required. This was provided by the employer as an exercise to reduce a corporate liability for accrued sick leave and was not a position that Airservices was tricked into. Indeed they initiated it. Controllers must provide a certificate for any sick leave exceeding 1 day and will require a full medical examination if absent for longer terms. Airservices' own figures show that shifts requiring coverage (for all reasons including sickness) are roughly stable and that, per controller, the take up of overtime is slightly increased.

Controllers do not want to be part of a failing system. They are proud of the service they provide and their ability to do it. That some are forced to seek employment overseas or retire early simply because they can no longer cope with a system that fails to support them and blames them for its shortcomings is symptomatic of how bad things have become. There simply are not enough controllers to keep the system running.

Robert Mason
President, Civil Air
July 27, 2008

[Capt Claret]

In my opinion the problem all stems back to the use pays concept.

In some way, shape, or form, all Australians benefit from aviation; not just the passengers. Ergo, all Australians should pay for the service provided to aviation as a public service provision, not as a way for the government of the day to generate income.

When the raison d'ętre becomes service provision, rather than income generation, then perhaps we won't see VR offered quite so often, and staffing levels set where they should be.

[Lodown]

Just my opinion along similar lines to Capt Claret, but AsA has been jousting at big costly windmills for at least 10 years. The focus of the board and the executive has been on the core business...air traffic control. Ancillary and administrative support: secretarial, HR, book-keeping, R&D, industry consultation, training, PR, documents, mapping and anything else that didn't require an ATC licence or firefighter's certificate, was dumped with great joy and aplomb at the impending climb in the year-end bonus. Some of those requirements diminished as a result, but many of those jobs and responsibilities didn't go away. They just morphed from a secretary doing the work on $40,000 a year and typing at 80 wpm to become the responsibility of a controller on $120,000 a year, taken away from his/her core duties, typing at 35 wpm, wrestling with a computer graphics program, stuffing about with MS PowerPoint, reading self-help books with "for Dummies" in the title and believing written communication and public presentation was so simple that a controller couldn't help but fall into the role of the next Leo Tolstoy.

It's no wonder line controllers had to be promoted. The administrative work wasn't getting done and the wonderful, best-in-their-own-world executive in their insightful collective wisdom couldn't see the forest for the trees and decided simply that more ATC managers would fix the problem. The controllers getting promoted weren't necessarily good managers, but the most adept at sussing out the administrative needs of the new position's supervisor and catering to that need.

And the ironic part is that air traffic controllers not only supported this strategy, but actively embraced it. Afterall, the personality and training of an air traffic controller won't let him/her admit that he/she isn't the best person for a "simple" job like typing, or computer graphics, spreadsheet manipulation, document production, making a presentation or managing a division.

So a myopic executive devoted to an idealistic view of Nirvana where only ATC's make up the entire public face of AsA, because that equates to their distorted view of maximum efficiency, can't understand why their precious model is not looking so hot.

D'uh!

[phew_they_missed!]

And the ironic part is that air traffic controllers not only supported this strategy, but actively embraced it

What the hell are you basing that one on?

[Lodown]

Thought that would raise a few hackles, but it's still my opinion.

[phew_they_missed!]

No hackles raised here...and everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Doesn't answer the question though.

[Lodown]

Perhaps I should have put "many" between "that" and "air". In my opinion, there appears to be no shortage of ATC willing to get away from the microphone for the opportunity to do something different. And who can blame them? It seems to be possibly the main way to get noticed and advance in the organisation. The good controllers who love their jobs and stay at the mikes seem to be the ones who get passed over and disillusioned at seeing their experience and commitment count for little in an organisation that says those are the qualities it values most, but appears to reward people who show contradictory behaviour.

[phew_they_missed!]

Perhaps I should have put "many" between "that" and "air".

Make it "some" instead of "many" i would agree. The problem is, with staff run so close to the bone, it takes the removal of very few line controllers to throw the whole thing into chaos.

[max1]

Lodown

Thanks for this

'The focus of the board and the executive has been on the core business...air traffic control.'

Had a good chuckle, though events seem to show otherwise.

When you have a trainee controller who is struggling, one of the things they tend to do is put off solving the harder conflictions and do what they are comfortable doing.
You need to get them to focus on the hard things and use their time wisely to do the time critical actions first and leave the easier chores they are comfortable with til second.

After about 18 months in the job Greg Russell stated that when he arrived the financial aspects of ASA were the critical area and that he had put his major efforts into sorting these out. Our core business is ATC and ARFF, I'm not sure what has gone on in the ARFF, but ATC staffing, recruitment and training has definitely NOT been on the agenda.
It is well over a couple of years since most ATC have had any simulator emergency training, the College has been gutted, and good luck if you can find the 95 trainees that are supposed to be riding to the rescue this year.

Latest from Civilair website today 2 more VR in Sydney today, one early retirement in a week, one more resignation to work OS.

[gazs]

Trainees

Not sure what you imply when you say that you can find none of the 95 trainees. I am one of the fortunate ones that will be starting next week. Unfortunately it will be some time before I am of any real benefit to you guys at the coal face but I look forward to the day I am. Hope the morale lifts in the interim

[cbradio]

Not sure what you imply when you say that you can find none of the 95 trainees.

he didn't say "none of"

and good luck if you can find the 95 trainees

you might want to be more accurate at the college, whoops, Academy

Hope the morale lifts in the interim

not likely the way things are going - not sure what the "roll eyes" smiley was supposed to mean - good luck next week.

[Binoculars]

Hey, given the wonderful performance of the share market since I retired, I've started looking for a job picking up glasses in the pub, but perhaps ASA would like to employ me on a contract basis to sit and play with spreadsheets for twenty hours a week of my own choosing?

I'm sure I could release at least one manager back to operational duties at a fraction of the current price?

(Sorry Al, just kidding!)

[Quokka]

And the ironic part is that air traffic controllers not only supported this strategy, but actively embraced it

What the hell are you basing that one on?

Lodown is correct.

A lot of controllers find it hard to stomach that they don't have the aptitude and ability to perform in non-operational positions... especially leadership positions.

But how many of them will compromise their own values... or at least those that they professed to believe in and may have abided by in the past, to achieve that golden "promotion" to a non-operational position with the same or higher salary?

The Managers were our brethren controllers... they have come from us.

Maybe we should sit down and take a good hard look at ourselves, our work culture, beliefs and values. Because no-one yet amongst us has risen from the ranks and become the Messiah of Air Traffic Control Management... and I seriously doubt that there ever will come a Messiah in Australian Air Traffic Control.

So, the next question is... why?

[peuce]

That's easily answered ...

• Controllers are recruiited because they have the controlling gene
• Administrators and Managers are recruited because they have the management gene

However, ASA have always tried to mix the gene pool ... doesn't work ... and it's very expensive

[sierraoscar595]

Industrial action

I'm involved with a small RPT carrier operation - should I be worried about a strike or any other kind of industrial action over all this. Would be good to have some advanced notice if there's something on the horizon