Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 4
Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Distraction; Communication Breakdown; Training / Qualification; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic
Staffing; Company Policy; Human Factors
I was the OJT Instructor for the combined sectors Radar Assist position (D-side). We were very busy; this is nothing new for the sectors. Our facility was cited as failing to split sectors and failure to effectively assign D-sides to sectors and was often unnecessarily overloaded. Our staffing is far below a safe number as was noted by the ERC (Employee Review Committee) and as negligently staffed. All these factors play into this situation. While we were overly busy; trying our best to keep up with the traffic demand we as a sector failed to issue traffic merging procedures early enough to a VFR aircraft receiving radar traffic advisories. This VFR was at 5500 ft and was definitely within 100 ft and 0.5 miles of another non radar identified VFR aircraft at 5400 ft. A traffic call was not made until the aircraft was within 1-2 miles. This is a devastating situation; but it's due to the lack of safety culture from our upper facility management.Do what's right. We should split sectors and always have the staffing to do so; without question; no matter what the day or the forecast number of flights.
ZKC Center Controller reported issuing a traffic advisory too late due to an excessive work load.