Narrative:

I had just returned from the lavatory during the final stage of boarding and had just pushed the APU start button when the ground crew disconnected the ground power without asking permission. As a result; we got a smoke detector fault that would not clear. Maintenance technicians were finally able to clear the fault after we took a 35 minute delay. Upon pushing back; the tug driver never told me the push was complete or to set the brakes. Instead; I saw the tug pull away while we had an engine running and no brakes applied. I gently applied the toe brakes and pushed the mechanics call button several times to get the ground crew's attention. Eventually; a crew member appeared in front of the aircraft and I signaled to see if they wanted the brakes set. They acknowledged the signal; showed the nose wheel steering disconnect pin and walked away. I called ops and described the situation and they said they would tell the crew to remember to salute in the future. I explained that the issue was that they drove away while the brakes were not set and I was concerned that the aircraft could have rolled forward and injured the crew.this ground crew really needs some refresher training with emphasis on following policies and procedures. Their cavalier attitude resulted in a 35 minute maintenance delay and then further put them in harm's way. We could have easily rolled forward and hurt or killed the crew or done significant damage to the aircraft and tug.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 Captain reported deviations from SOP by the ground crew during pushback which he felt were very dangerous.

Narrative: I had just returned from the lavatory during the final stage of boarding and had just pushed the APU start button when the ground crew disconnected the ground power without asking permission. As a result; we got a smoke detector fault that would not clear. Maintenance technicians were finally able to clear the fault after we took a 35 minute delay. Upon pushing back; the tug driver never told me the push was complete or to set the brakes. Instead; I saw the tug pull away while we had an engine running and no brakes applied. I gently applied the toe brakes and pushed the mechanics call button several times to get the ground crew's attention. Eventually; a crew member appeared in front of the aircraft and I signaled to see if they wanted the brakes set. They acknowledged the signal; showed the nose wheel steering disconnect pin and walked away. I called ops and described the situation and they said they would tell the crew to remember to salute in the future. I explained that the issue was that they drove away while the brakes were not set and I was concerned that the aircraft could have rolled forward and injured the crew.This ground crew really needs some refresher training with emphasis on following policies and procedures. Their cavalier attitude resulted in a 35 minute maintenance delay and then further put them in harm's way. We could have easily rolled forward and hurt or killed the crew or done significant damage to the aircraft and tug.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.