Narrative:

We received the preliminary dangerous good report for dry ice to be boarded. Prior to push back; we received the final dangerous goods summary xa:21Z. We pushed backed; started the engines and taxied. Nothing was said to us by operations or ramp tower personnel. When we were number one at [spot]; the ground controller said to us; 'I understand you have to go back to the gate; make a right turn and contact ramp tower.' we replied that we had not heard we needed to go back to the gate but that we would contact operations. Upon contacting operations; we were told that the dangerous goods were loaded incorrectly and that we needed to return to the gate. We taxied back to gate and shut down the engines. I contacted operations to try to gain insight into what exactly was wrong with the way the dangerous goods were loaded. I was told that the dry ice was loaded but [company] policy states that bags must be surrounding the dangerous goods and the bags were never placed around the dangerous goods. About that time another final dangerous goods report appeared on the ACARS printer. The same employee (number xxxxxx) certified that the hazmat was loaded correctly. Odd that the same employee certified the hazmat was loaded properly the first time; when it was obviously not but again certified that it was loaded correctly the second time. The cargo doors were closed; we started engines and departed without further incident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported gate return to correct configuration Dangerous Good loading errors.

Narrative: We received the preliminary dangerous good report for dry ice to be boarded. Prior to push back; we received the final dangerous goods summary XA:21Z. We pushed backed; started the engines and taxied. Nothing was said to us by Operations or Ramp Tower Personnel. When we were number one at [spot]; the Ground Controller said to us; 'I understand you have to go back to the gate; make a right turn and contact Ramp Tower.' We replied that we had not heard we needed to go back to the gate but that we would contact Operations. Upon contacting Operations; we were told that the dangerous goods were loaded incorrectly and that we needed to return to the gate. We taxied back to gate and shut down the engines. I contacted Operations to try to gain insight into what exactly was wrong with the way the dangerous goods were loaded. I was told that the dry ice was loaded but [Company] policy states that bags must be surrounding the dangerous goods and the bags were never placed around the dangerous goods. About that time ANOTHER final dangerous goods report appeared on the ACARS printer. The same employee (number XXXXXX) certified that the HAZMAT was loaded correctly. Odd that the same employee certified the HAZMAT was loaded properly the first time; when it was obviously not but again certified that it was loaded correctly the second time. The cargo doors were closed; we started engines and departed without further incident.

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.