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An air traffic controller reported becoming fatigue from a lack of staffing and working several six day work weeks.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1502087 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201712 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Tower |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | No Aircraft |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Approach Local |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
I have worked 4 weeks in a row of 6 day work weeks. I have been taking some peoples overtime so I am not assigned another overtime shift on my regular day off (rdo) due to my [spouse's] work schedule. When I came into work we only had a three people assigned to this shift when four is the minimum due to having three positions staffed at all times. For this shift no break period was available. On top of that I was working an overtime for the fourth week in a row on a mid-shift. I was completely fatigued for the shift due to it not being staffed properly. This is becoming a very dangerous situation with not just myself becoming fatigued but the whole facility being fatigued and overworked with overtime and below minimum numbers of staffing on each shift. I cannot emphasize enough how critical the staffing situation is becoming. Almost every single employee is working 6 day work weeks with midshifts scheduled in the middle of their rdos and working those shift; are below minimums with staffing just like my shift was for this evening. I do not see a sup being called in for overtime when we are below minimums like this evening. I cannot emphasize more that we need more people hired at this facility. If staffing numbers do not change in the near future and continue the downward trend that we are seeing; a catastrophic event will occur due to controllers being fatigued from multiple six day work weeks and most shifts being understaffed.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An air traffic controller reported becoming fatigue from a lack of staffing and working several six day work weeks.
Narrative: I have worked 4 weeks in a row of 6 day work weeks. I have been taking some peoples overtime so I am not assigned another overtime shift on my Regular Day Off (RDO) due to my [spouse's] work schedule. When I came into work we only had a three people assigned to this shift when four is the minimum due to having three positions staffed at all times. For this shift no break period was available. On top of that I was working an overtime for the fourth week in a row on a mid-shift. I was completely fatigued for the shift due to it not being staffed properly. This is becoming a very dangerous situation with not just myself becoming fatigued but the whole facility being fatigued and overworked with overtime and below minimum numbers of staffing on each shift. I cannot emphasize enough how critical the staffing situation is becoming. Almost every single employee is working 6 day work weeks with Midshifts scheduled in the middle of their RDOs and working those shift; are below minimums with staffing just like my shift was for this evening. I do not see a Sup being called in for overtime when we are below minimums like this evening. I cannot emphasize more that we need more people hired at this facility. If staffing numbers do not change in the near future and continue the downward trend that we are seeing; a catastrophic event will occur due to controllers being fatigued from multiple six day work weeks and most shifts being understaffed.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.