https://www.ioshmagazine.com/2025/08/21/supporting-air-traffic-controllers-mental-health#rsupsf-filtered=yes&fbclid=IwY2xjawMs-9tleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFZNjRicks2ck5malVaRmpWAR6ailj4QSdlafSdHLwwywyl9hZR_vXT8yz0VxmDX4iYHd0rIw3oazlm9fHoKA_aem_DPRIs6m_BPJgH8ALgRDS7g(Excerpt below, very interesting insights, full article in link above.)
John Windell — Tuesday 2nd September 2025
Air traffic controllers hold the safety of thousands of passengers and crew in their hands every day – with no room for error. That pressure can take its toll, so what measures are in place to help controllers stay healthy and keep others safe?
The air traffic control profession has hit some turbulence of late. It encountered an especially rough patch back in April and May when outages in Newark, New Jersey, US, airspace caused controllers to lose contact with all the aircraft in the area – the north-east coast, thick with criss-crossing flightpaths. Terrifyingly, the screens went blank for up to 90 seconds.
Although no incidents occurred – fortunately – hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled, inconveniencing thousands of passengers. The air traffic control officers (ATCOs) also suffered: following the first blackout, several took medical leave, citing a ‘traumatic event’ and triggering a minimum of 45 days off the job (Lapham, 2025).
Frantic reorganisation followed to keep the runways open and safe, highlighting a much wider problem – a global shortage of ATCOs. Across Europe, the shortage is estimated at around 700 to 1000 positions (Allan, 2025). In the US, the problem is deeper. The head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association recently said that 41% of the 10,800 controllers currently on the job were working 10 hours a day, six days a week to make up for the extra 3000 staff needed to meet current demand (Isidore, 2025).
A number of factors have contributed to the shortages, but foremost among them was COVID. Levels of air traffic plummeted during the pandemic, and many experienced ATCOs took the opportunity to retire. At the same time, training programmes were suspended, so new staff did not come up. Air travel has since surged again, but many ATCO seats remain empty as it takes at least three years before a successful trainee is ready to be supervised on the job. In the US, regular shutdowns of the federal government have compounded the problem, and stuttering finance has further disrupted the training of new ATCOs.
‘It is a high-pressure profession,’ says Patricia Gilbert, executive vice-president professional at the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA). ‘ATCOs need particular cognitive abilities to do the job, and they need to protect those abilities. They need to think quickly, to multi-task and have decisions in their back pocket all the time.’
She says that FAA executives often wonder why ATCOs use so much of their sick leave compared with other workers. ‘I explain it’s because you can go to the office and answer some emails with a cold, but you wouldn’t want an ATCO working an evening shift if they have a cold coming on or haven’t slept. Sick leave is there for them to take, and they need to be supported in that.’
Nuno Cebola, director of human factors and wellbeing at NATS, which provides services to several UK airports, adds that musculoskeletal disorders, as with many sedentary jobs, can be a problem. ‘On the physical side there are repetitive stress injuries, and back problems because people can spend a lot of time sitting down.’
Other physical hazards in air traffic control towers include slips and trips, and fire safety and evacuation challenges, says Shane Berry, head of health, safety and fire safety at East Midlands Airport, and member of the IOSH Aviation and Aerospace Community Committee. But the key issues for ATCOs are stress, tiredness and fatigue. ‘Tiredness and fatigue are different things,’ Shane explains. ‘After two or three shifts, you may be tired. Fatigue is a more long-term condition that can be serious and needs to be managed.’
Shift work, by its nature, can be fatiguing, and is made worse when understaffing is an issue, says Patricia. ‘Short staffing is a global issue in the profession, which requires more of an individual than it did, say, during my first five years when I didn’t work a single shift of overtime. It’s not just the shift work itself, but the length of time people are required to do it. If the work environment is not conducive to the ability to do the job, that can add to the pressure.’ Many months and years spent doing shift work can take a heavy toll.
Nuno says that fatigue-related absence is only an occasional issue for NATS. It might not be caused by work, but still needs to be mitigated. ‘It could be anything, including normal life events such as a new baby keeping somebody up all night. I think there are moments when the job is quite stressful, but it’s not always the case.’
Physical and psychological checks
A wide assortment of factors can exert an influence on the physical and mental wellbeing of ATCOs and their ability to do the job effectively and safely – and these factors must be checked for and controlled. Workplace stress and associated psychological factors are routinely and carefully monitored. Critical incident stress management systems are also widespread, as are ‘just culture’ approaches.
Any event that might have an impact on the ability of an ATCO to carry out their work will trigger a response. ‘We look out for people after an incident, which is important,’ says Shane. ‘But that’s also something we do day-to-day, especially looking at human factors around performance, and by checking for any issues via regular medical assessments.’
Like many operations, NATS has occupational health services on site. ‘We employ general practitioners,’ says Nuno, ‘partly because there is a requirement for controllers to go through a full medical every year to maintain their licence, but also because that service is always there for them to access. If they have any concerns, they can reach out. We also have a very strong peer-support capability.’
The regular medical checks are extensive. ‘They go into stress and fatigue, check for skeletal, ear, nose and throat issues, the heart, the whole body,’ says Shane. Ongoing training around fatigue management and human factors also gives ATCOs the power they need to spot the signs for themselves.
Mental health training for managers has become another well-established measure, says Nuno. ‘We also do suicide awareness because our demographics align with the incidence of suicide, and we run a monthly men’s health conversation.’
