Not for nothing, but human beings were not designed to work all night long. Of course, this doesn’t excuse the air traffic controllers who have been making headlines for sleeping on the job during their overnight shifts.
One of my first jobs out of college required me to clock into work at midnight. I produced and anchored a morning show for a small CBS news affiliate in Wisconsin, and would typically end my workday at 9:30 a.m. To put it mildly; the hours sucked. I would sleep from noon until 6 or 7 p.m., eat dinner, take a shower and head into work around 11:30 p.m. I lasted about four months before moving on to a bigger station with relatively better hours (4 a.m.-1 p.m.).
Fortunately, I never fell asleep on the job because I stayed busy the entire night writing and producing a two-hour show; however, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t tired. I could sleep 12 hours prior to coming into work and still be tired around 3 a.m. I just don’t think it’s natural to expect a human body to function at its best in the dead of night.
Apparently, the federal government is finally beginning to realize this. Earlier today, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that air traffic controllers would be mandated to rest more between shifts under new work rules. He also told the flying public that the government would not tolerate air traffic controllers sleeping on the job.
“On my watch, controllers will not be paid to take naps. We’re not going to allow that,” LaHood said. “They are going to be paid to do the job that they’re trained to do, which involves guiding planes in and out of airports safely. But we are not going to pay controllers to be napping.”
LaHood’s announcement comes after five instances of controllers falling asleep while on duty surfaced and sent the public into an uproar. The latest incident took place early Saturday in Miami when an air traffic controller allegedly dozed off just before 5 a.m. at a busy regional radar facility that handles air traffic for much of Florida. According to news reports, the controller did not miss any calls and no one was injured during the worker’s nap, but he has still been suspended for sleeping on the job.
In an attempt to eliminate further incidents like this LaHood unveiled new rules that require controllers to be off for at least nine hours between shifts, compared with eight now. In addition, controllers will no longer be able to swap shifts unless they log at least nine hours off from the end of one shift to the start of the other. Also, there will be more managers on duty during the night and early morning hours to watch for controllers who may be nodding off during slow periods.
Do you feel safer flying now that there are new rules in place?
Related Articles:
Insults Flying In The Not-So Friendly Skies
Putting The “Friendly” Back In The “Friendly Skies”
Are Airlines Becoming More Family Friendly?