The FAA has announced an agreement with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association on fatigue recommendations developed by a joint working group.
According to the FAA the agreement reinforces existing FAA policy prohibiting air traffic controllers from sleeping while they are performing assigned duties, and the agency said it would continue to provide air traffic controllers breaks on the midnight shift based on staffing and workload.
Included in the agreement is a requirement for controllers to report for work well rested and mentally alert, and controllers now may request to take leave if they are too fatigued to perform their duties. (Under recent changes controllers now have a minimum of nine hours off between shifts.)
Controllers will now be allowed to listen to the radio and read while on duty from 10 pm to 6 am, traffic permitting. The FAA said that under the agreement it would also develop a fatigue risk management system for air traffic operations by January of next year designed to collect and analyze data associated with work schedules, including work intensity to ensure schedules to not increase the probability of fatigue.
