[Peetwo]

Harfwit oversees a toxic culture at ASA -   

Via the SMH:

Top stories



Morale disappeared off the radar, new Airservices review shows

Sydney Morning Herald·13 hours ago



'Putrid': Sex discrimination in air traffic control could endanger lives, says report

Sydney Morning Herald·1 day ago

And from Oz Aviation :

AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA SETS UP INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF ITS WORKPLACE CULTURE

written by Australianaviation.Com.Au August 6, 2019



Airservices Australia says it will set up an independent review of its workplace culture after a survey of its air traffic controllers found claims of bullying and sexual harassment.

The country’s air traffic manager said former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick would conduct the “broad and independent review” of its workforce culture.

“We will share the findings of this review and any recommendations will be adopted to ensure that Airservices offers a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace for all of our employees,” Airservices said in a statement on Tuesday.

Airservices was responding to the publication of a report prepared by former Federal Court judge Anthony North, which included responses from a survey of about 500 Airservices employees in January.

The survey, conducted by YouGov Galaxy and commissioned by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers for air traffic controllers’ union Civil Air Operations Officers’ Association, found half of all respondents – and three quarters of female respondents – said that they had experienced bullying, discrimination or sexual harassment while working at Airservices.

“It is evident that bullying, discrimination, and sexual harassment are features of the experience of many employees of Airservices and that they are not confident that management condemns the behaviour and acts effectively to prevent or stop it,” North said in the report, according to a joint statement from Civil Air and Maurice Blackburn on Tuesday.

“The fact that such behaviour has been documented as occurring over many years and at various Airservices worksites allows for the conclusion that bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment is part of the way things are done at Airservices, that they are part of its culture, and that they are not isolated or aberrant occurrences.”

“Of particular concern in the air navigation control environment, in which Airservices operates, is the potential for the poor workplace culture to have effects which compromise the safety of aircraft and passengers.”

Airservices said it rejected the suggestion in the report that its workplace culture was negatively affecting safety.

Instead, the government-owned corporation said its safety performance was “demonstrably among the best in the world and always improving”.

“There is no factual basis for these false and alarmist claims. When our safety performance is compared against our peers, we compare exceptionally well,” Airservices said.

Airservices said its annual employee engagement surveys had found “some areas of our workforce are concerned about workplace behaviours and how effectively they are managed when they arise”.

“We have been working with our people to address this, and have initiated some key improvement actions; most importantly enhancing essential people leadership skills in our highly specialised operational workforce,” Airservices said.

Civil Air Operations Officers’ Association executive secretary Peter McGuane called on federal government to “urgently step up” commence a full and independent enquiry.

“Employees lives are being ruined by the culture of bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment that Airservices have allowed, and the government must intervene stop this,” McGuane said.

“This employer has known about this culture for many years but it still refuses to change.”

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& via the Oz:

Sydney air traffic safety lapses ‘spike’



The control tower at Sydney Airport. Picture: AAP

• ROBYN IRONSIDE
  AVIATION WRITER
  @ironsider
  [img=0x0]https://i1.wp.com/pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/6e7c15929181150836944cea1b4d0979/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/broadsheet/components/article-author/widget&td_bio=false&td_bylinetitle=Aviation%2520Writer&td_location=none[/img]
  
  
• 12:00AM AUGUST 7, 2019
  
  
• 3 COMMENTS
  

Airservices Australia did a workplace wellbeing assessment of air traffic controllers after a worrying increase in safety lapses at Sydney airport, a report reveals.

The operational safety and performance report, released by Airservices, showed a “spike in loss of separation occurrences ­attributed to air traffic control (ATC)” in 2018-19, primarily driven by one unit, Sydney. The Sydney ATC tower had 13 more close calls in 2018-19 than the previous year. In response to the “increasing trend”, a workplace wellbeing assessment was conducted.

As reported by The Australian on February 18, that assessment found widespread low morale among air traffic controllers, with 93 per cent saying they had ­experienced bullying, harassment and/or discrimination.

Airservices denied a “toxic workplace culture” had posed a threat to passenger safety. Responding to a report commissioned by the air traffic controllers union, Civil Air, a statement from Airservices said it “unequivocally rejected the suggestion its workplace culture was negatively affecting safety”.


“Airservices’ safety performance is demonstrably among the best in the world and always improving. There is no factual basis for these false and alarmist claims,” Airservices said.

The Civil Air report, written by former federal court judge ­Anthony North QC, analysed the findings of the workplace wellbeing assessment.

It described the workplace culture within Airservices as “so pervaded by bullying and sexual harassment it poses a possible threat to the safety of air travellers”. “Short of permanent or temporary absence, employees so affected are likely to be distracted at work and lack motivation and commitment,” the report says. “Although present at work, they cannot engage ­actively in their work tasks.”

Civil Air national secretary Peter McGuane said the issues were not confined to the Sydney air traffic control tower, but were “widespread across the industry”.

“I think there’s a variety of reasons (for the bullying and harassment),” Mr McGuane said. “Obviously it’s a heavily male-dominated industry and there’s a culture that’s developed over a period of time, and management has not taken practical steps to change that.”

He said the report was not intended to embarrass Airservices, but rather trigger action.

Airservices said it engaged cultural change consultant Elizabeth Broderick to “conduct a broad and independent review of Airservices’ workforce culture”.

Airservices said the findings would be shared and “any recommendations adopted to ensure that Airservices offers a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace for all of our employees”.

Hmm...not a good look for the miniscule, yet another festering turd for the growing McDonaught aviation safety shame list...  

MTF...P2