Narrative:

Upon arrival; about halfway through deplaning; a captain from the [airport] fire department came aboard; introduced himself; and asked 'what have you got?' I asked him what he was talking about. He said that they had a report of hazmat on my aircraft. I told him 'I didn't call you.' he said that they got a call from company about hazmat. I told him 'I had no clue what he was talking about.' we then went into the jetway where there were many other firefighters and emts. They were talking on their radios; and conversing with some plain clothed company people who had come down as well. It was then determined that there was no hazmat in the cabin; but possibly in a cargo bin.I had to press [the airport] fire department and our own people to tell me; the captain; what was going on. They then explained that after loading the aircraft in ZZZ1; after we left; some of the ground crew that loaded our aircraft had broken out in hives; and had suspected some sort of hazmat. The people in ZZZ1 called the [company operations]; and either they coordinated fire department or had the [ZZZ station] people coordinate them to meet our aircraft. After we finished deplaning; it was determined that the aircraft would be moved off the gate to be inspected by fire department before offloading the bags. I left the aircraft powered; as if other pilots were coming to fly it; so they could move it as soon as possible.this is a huge safety of flight issue. First and foremost; notify the crew! We knew nothing about this for the entire flight. Nobody at company told anyone about this; not even a chief pilot! We were not informed by dispatch; and we were not informed by ground operations. We were completely blindsided by this. Why would this be kept from us? If there was hazmat that caused reactions to the ground crew; why were we not diverted? Have the flight crew or passengers been exposed to anything? There are dozens of airports between ZZZ1 and ZZZ we could have safely diverted into; and easily accommodated our customers. As a captain; I deserve to know the condition of my aircraft; good or bad. I feel this was a unilateral decision made about my flight; and I; as the pilot in command; had absolutely no say in it. Fom describes the duties and authority of the captain. Whoever made the decision to not tell us is in violation of this section. This is unacceptable. Ironically; our [company] learning for the second quarter; produced by company; has a module on communication and a module on hazmat. Perhaps this should be taught to all employee groups.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew reported being notified during deplaning; post flight; of a HAZMAT incident that occurred during boarding at the departure airport.

Narrative: Upon arrival; about halfway through deplaning; a Captain from the [airport] Fire Department came aboard; introduced himself; and asked 'What have you got?' I asked him what he was talking about. He said that they had a report of HAZMAT on my aircraft. I told him 'I didn't call you.' He said that they got a call from Company about HAZMAT. I told him 'I had no clue what he was talking about.' We then went into the jetway where there were many other Firefighters and EMTs. They were talking on their radios; and conversing with some plain clothed Company people who had come down as well. It was then determined that there was no HAZMAT in the cabin; but possibly in a cargo bin.I had to press [the airport] Fire Department and our own people to tell me; the Captain; what was going on. They then explained that after loading the aircraft in ZZZ1; after we left; some of the Ground Crew that loaded our aircraft had broken out in hives; and had suspected some sort of HAZMAT. The people in ZZZ1 called the [Company Operations]; and either they coordinated Fire Department or had the [ZZZ station] people coordinate them to meet our aircraft. After we finished deplaning; it was determined that the aircraft would be moved off the gate to be inspected by Fire Department before offloading the bags. I left the aircraft powered; as if other pilots were coming to fly it; so they could move it as soon as possible.This is a huge Safety of Flight issue. First and foremost; notify the crew! We knew nothing about this for the entire flight. Nobody at Company told anyone about this; not even a Chief Pilot! We were not informed by Dispatch; and we were not informed by Ground Operations. We were completely blindsided by this. Why would this be kept from us? If there was HAZMAT that caused reactions to the Ground Crew; why were we not diverted? Have the Flight Crew or Passengers been exposed to anything? There are dozens of airports between ZZZ1 and ZZZ we could have safely diverted into; and easily accommodated our Customers. As a Captain; I deserve to know the condition of my aircraft; good or bad. I feel this was a unilateral decision made about my flight; and I; as the Pilot in Command; had absolutely no say in it. FOM describes the duties and authority of the Captain. Whoever made the decision to not tell us is in violation of this section. This is unacceptable. Ironically; our [Company] Learning for the second quarter; produced by Company; has a module on communication and a module on HAZMAT. Perhaps this should be taught to all Employee Groups.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.