Commercial Fixed Wing
Dispatch Dispatcher
Workload
No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Weather
Workload continues to be excessive. Dispatcher relieved was barely able to keep up with current situation as I took over the desk. Medical Emergency in progress aircraft landed overweight. Multiple turbulence forecast re-writes by WSI (moderate and greater in nature causing responses in crew notifications; airborne altitude adjustments; revising releases to avoid/mitigate of preflight releases-Fielding crew inquiries once they had a chance to read and digest the SIGMECs/SIGMETs sent. All the while dealing with MIA SVR WX and finally diversion. Multiple calls from crews adding fuel and Severe WX. Not to mention the never ending number of flights to plan.The Company has the desk workload assigned for perfect VFR weather. When the weather is less than perfect the desk workload is unmanageable to the point of SAFETY being compromised. It is especially bad the first 3 hrs of the shift on this desk. Other desks perhaps at different times. Because of the needs of the Dispatcher to load his own desktop if he/she stands a chance of keeping up; one must reboot and reload his own applications. The Dispatcher that works this desk regularly has a huge advantage as he/she knows the quirks of the different stations and has a lot of the routes memorized. It is a huge DISADVANTAGE of the guest/relief dispatcher who cycles through the desk on an irregular basis like myself today.Safety was never compromised in this instance as I made it known to Management the situation was NEARING loss of operational control and getting worse and I took steps to stop the potential loss of control AND demanded workload offload to another Dispatcher. All the while of falling further behind coordinating with the next Dispatcher to assume control of my flights. Workload reduction if the face of a known SEVERE WEATHER EVENT was not proactively addressed.We have been asking for YEARS for a means to one entry- sign the other Dispatcher out; and the new Dispatcher in and reset the desktop. Has yet to be addressed. Instead it takes 15-20 mins to reboot and manually open and sign into the multiple programs we require. With all the other departments in Operations growing as such a rapid pace one would think addressing the Dispatcher Workload by opening some desks would have a more of a priority.The Company can spend hundreds of millions of dollars building a pretty building and an entire new fleet of airplanes; issuing 9000 plus pilot's new iPads and reequipping our aircraft with new seating configuration what seems like constantly. But we can't afford a program-write to address our needs; or open a few desks to reduce the workload of the people (Dispatcher) who are the last line of defense between a successful flight and a potential crash. This is shameful; and borderline criminal.
Air carrier Dispatcher lamented the high workloads and diminished operational control that occurs during severe weather events. Reporter suggested that the company upgrade the Dispatch work station software and bring in more dispatchers when severe weather is in the forecast.