Transport Canada has fined Nav Canada — the federal agency that handles air-traffic control in the country — a total of $85,000 for allowing medical certificates to lapse on controllers.
A Postmedia News review of Transport Canada enforcement actions in 2016 showed that Nav Canada received the fines because it “failed to establish and maintain a safety management system.”
Nav Canada spokesman Ron Singer said in response that the fines resulted from Transport Canada’s discovery of four controllers whose medical certificates had lapsed. A Nav Canada internal investigation found another four, at various airports across the country.
The controllers were removed from duty until they passed their medical exams.
“At all times, the persons identified by Transport Canada had completed the appropriate training and were qualified to control traffic and were also medically fit to do so,” Singer said. “It was a question of documentation.”
The federal government requires that air-traffic controllers receive a medical examine every two years until age 50, then annually. There are more than 2,000 controllers in Canada.
