B737-800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
Aircraft APU start valve was placarded closed; needed an air start. I asked the tug driver if the start cart was located on the right side [since we would be starting the left engine first]. He said yes it was. We started the number 1 engine as per the checklist. During the start process he said something garbled over the headset; when I asked again if the start cart was on the right side and again he replied yes. A few moments later I saw the start cart being removed from the left side of the aircraft. My concern is if the people are not trained properly; someone is going to get killed.This event occurred because the rampers were not trained on positioning the start cart for a cart start on a B737 aircraft. Also I believe the tug driver was not understanding that the right side is aircraft right not his right.In the future I will visually check the position of the cart and use the phrase aircraft right or aircraft left.
B737-800 Captain reported that the ground crew improperly positioned the start cart on the left side of the aircraft; exposing personnel to possible injury during the engine start.