B737-800 captain reported that several ground crew members were not complying with the new company p...

Narrative:

New shutdown procedures for -800 series aircraft call for nose wheel and right main to be chocked and tail stand installed before chocks signal is given by marshaller and notes that it may take up to two minutes for the captain to receive this hand signal. On three out of four legs flown in an -800 on this trip; the marshaller gave the chocks signal immediately after shutdown and far too soon for the tail stand to have been installed. Unless there are multiple ramp agents available to immediately (within three to five seconds of shutdown) install two sets of chocks and the tail stand; the likelihood of the 'chocks in signal' to be received by the captain becomes increasingly low as this new procedure has become the norm. In fact; on the one leg where I actually got a proper signal; the lead marshaller actually disappeared for nearly a minute before coming back to give me the signal. I was just about to leave the flight deck to go see if the chocks were actually installed at all (and if the tail stand was installed before de-boarding began) and might have missed the signal. Odds are that this procedure will break down and the signal missed far too often; posing risk of the very problems the new procedure is designed to mitigate. Recommend a separate signal for chocks installed; followed by the marshaller remaining in sight with his hand in the air until a different 'tail stand installed' signal in given.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 Captain reported that several ground crew members were not complying with the new company policy.

Narrative: New shutdown procedures for -800 series aircraft call for nose wheel and right main to be chocked and tail stand installed before chocks signal is given by Marshaller and notes that it may take up to two minutes for the Captain to receive this hand signal. On three out of four legs flown in an -800 on this trip; the Marshaller gave the chocks signal immediately after shutdown and far too soon for the tail stand to have been installed. Unless there are multiple ramp agents available to immediately (within three to five seconds of shutdown) install two sets of chocks and the tail stand; the likelihood of the 'chocks in signal' to be received by the Captain becomes increasingly low as this new procedure has become the norm. In fact; on the one leg where I actually got a proper signal; the lead Marshaller actually disappeared for nearly a minute before coming back to give me the signal. I was just about to leave the flight deck to go see if the chocks were actually installed at all (and if the tail stand was installed before de-boarding began) and might have missed the signal. Odds are that this procedure will break down and the signal missed far too often; posing risk of the very problems the new procedure is designed to mitigate. Recommend a separate signal for chocks installed; followed by the Marshaller remaining in sight with his hand in the air until a different 'tail stand installed' signal in given.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1605059
Time
Date	201812
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 389 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

B737-800 captain reported that several ground crew members were not complying with the new company policy.