Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors; Procedure
Once the aircraft was parked; nose-gear secured with chocks and arrival hand signal given; ground power was connected and enabled. For almost 3 minutes; the flight crew left the #2 (right) engine running; even though customers were deplaning. The ramp crew was kept away from the aircraft; per SOP. The flight crew did not shut down this running engine until given the 'cut engine'; hand signal by me; the ramp supervisor. When given this hand signal; it took only about 15 seconds to cut the engine. Only then; did normal ramp servicing commence after the aircraft was safe to approach.Events like this are the norm; rather than the exception for CRJ-700 crews. Some engines are left running for 5+ minutes.Prolonging the engine shut-down time impacts both employee safety and operational performance. The long shutdown time and the time constraint of short ground times; leads to unsafe employee behavior of approaching the aircraft with a running engine; if not managed properly by the employees. The most effective risk control is to eliminate one or more threats. Following ramp SOP eliminates one threat; and changing shut-down procedures eliminates the other threat.
Ramp Supervisor reported that their air carrier's CRJ-700 crews' seem to leave their right engine running long after ground power has been plugged in; jeopardizing ground safety.