EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Company Policy; Human Factors
Aircraft X was conducted with Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) bleed inoperative. I chose not to use the APU at all. Upon arriving at gate I shut down #1 engine and waited to shut the other down until ground power was connected. The doors were disarmed and out of habit I shut off the beacon. It was off for about 10-20 seconds before I turned it back on realizing it needed to be on. After the aircraft was deplaned a employee; came up to the aircraft from the ramp and told me that a ground crew personnel approached the #2 Engine while it was running to put a cone in front of it and was 'almost sucked in'. I called the on duty chief pilot to report the incident.
Embraer Captain reported not following proper parking procedure for shutting down the engines which placed ramp employees in a hazardous situation.