B737-700
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 359; Flight Crew Type 7000
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
While being signaled into the Safety Zone; I noticed another Ramp person jumping onto a tug and racing from the Marshaller position and driving between the two Safety Zone lines of my gate and the adjacent one (left side of my aircraft). He was maintaining position outside of my Safety Zone but did capture my attention as being odd. While still being Marshalled in with lighted wands; this Tug Driver caught my attention again by quickly jumping into out of my Safety Zone while retrieving a set of chocks that were on the ground inside the zone. It was very dark out and I never saw the chocks until I noticed this person scurrying out of the zone with the chocks in hand. I was still being Marshalled in by the lead-in Marshaller with no other warning or stop sign. I would have stopped regardless if I had seen the zone incursion earlier but by the time I saw it; he was no longer a threat. I did go down and point out to the Marshaller that I would have expected to NOT be cleared in or simply given the 'stop' signal in that case. He told me that he did not know the other guy was going to do that and kind of blew me off as it being a non-event. I told him that I relied on him to not clear me in if there were any incursions in the zone and that stopping me is expected in the future. I'm not sure if the Ramper was really clearing the entire zone or just watching me be straight on the line? I was very calm and non-accusatory when speaking with him. I was trying to point out that I placed a lot of trust in him and letting him know that this area has no tolerance for infractions--especially at night. I got the impression he thought I was making a big deal about nothing.
B737 Captain reports a ramp person scurrying into the safety zone to retrieve some unseen chocks while the Marshall continued to wave the reporter forward on the lead in line. The Captain counseled the Marshall that he should have stopped the taxi in until the safety zone was clear.