Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
While doing the originating checks in the morning; my First Officer pulled his oxygen mask to check it and the pin that holds the strap to hang the mask came off. Since it was an originator in a Maintenance Base the mechanics happened to be there next to the plane as always to make sure everything is ok. We informed one of them that the pin came off and he proceeded to look for the pin and reinstalled it. I asked him if I needed to make a write-up in the logbook and he said no; it is fine. I agreed with him since he wasn't actually fixing or changing any part on the airplane I didn't see the need to put this on the logbook as well. [I did] not follow company SOPs and [did] not contact Maintenance Control since I believed this didn't require an actual write up. [In the future I should] contact my Dispatcher and Maintenance Control to clarify and clear any time maintenance personnel are on board of the airplane.
DHC8-300 Captain reports having an oxygen mask strap repaired prior to departure and not making a logbook entry. He is informed after the fact that an entry and maintenance sign off should have occurred.