Leaked report suggest controllers are struggling to cope with workloads
Air traffic controllers struggled to cope with their workloads last year after they moved into their new headquarters, according to a report leaked to newspapers.
The Guardian this morning describes the leaked report from an independent safety committee at national air traffic services (Nats), which shows there were a record number of complaints about work “overloads” in 2002. Overloads are classified as “cases where controllers feel they have to many aircraft to cope with, or too many complex manoeuvres to judge”.
The report, which was initially leaked to Computer Weekly magazine before being revealed in national newspapers, states that one controller was “shaking all the way home and hardly slept that night”. One former air traffic controller warned the newspaper: “Overloads are potentially very dangerous situations. They mean people are not really in control of a situation.”
David Luxton, of the air traffic controllers’ union Prospect, added: “We are concerned at the increase in overloads and we are working closely with Nats to get to the root cause.”
