The Airservices Australia controller was found lying across two chairs with a blanket covering them at 5.15am on December 9, 2022, a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said.

The controller had completed multiple night shifts with reduced extended rest periods, “which likely reduced their ability to obtain restorative sleep,” the report said.

ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said the controller had increased their chances of falling asleep “by lying across two chairs, not moving, and not undertaking activities to maintain mental alertness”.

When a colleague discovered the controller asleep, there was no traffic in the Cairns airspace they were responsible for managing, which was usual for that time of day, and there were no scheduled flights until after their shift.

“There were no negative consequences from this occurrence, but it does highlight areas for improvement in work scheduling and fatigue risk management,” said Mitchell .

The ATSB report found changes to the worker’s shifts were introduced on short notice because of rostering issues.

Since the incident, Airservices Australia has increased its overall number of air traffic controllers, including in the North Queensland group.

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