B737-700
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Human Factors; Company Policy
After landing Runway 27 at SAN we exited the runway at B8. As we were going to gate we had a very short taxi; so we taxied slowly to give the engines their 3 minute cool down period. However because we had such a short taxi; we arrived at the gate with only 2 minutes cool down; and both engines still running. The ground crew immediately plugged in external power; and then continued to walk aft; towards the still operating #2 engine. I immediately reached down and moved the #2 start lever to cutoff while announcing 'shutting down #2'. Apparently the ground crewmember was going aft to open the fwd cargo door while #2 was still running and the anti-collision light still was on. After the flight the Captain went downstairs and talked with the Departure Coordinator about the incident; but she didn't seem to be concerned about it and unaware of the fact that walking in front of an operating jet engine is dangerous.
B737 First Officer reports a ground crewman walking toward the forward cargo door controls with the number two engine still running. The First Officer quickly shuts down the engine.