Air carrier captain reported the city is dumping sand in the gate safety zone area at isp.

Narrative:

I would consider this a hazard that needs to be addressed immediately. Pulling into the gate in isp I noticed what appeared to be sand all over the safety zone which was also a bit snowy and icy. I went down to the ramp to verify what I did not want to believe but yes; somebody thinks it's ok for engines to ingest sand in the safety zone area. I spoke to a ramp employee and he said the city is doing it and they cannot get them to stop. This will cause damage to our engines and is therefore a major hazard that needs to be addressed immediately.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported the city is dumping sand in the gate Safety Zone area at ISP.

Narrative: I would consider this a hazard that needs to be addressed immediately. Pulling into the gate in ISP I noticed what appeared to be sand all over the Safety Zone which was also a bit snowy and icy. I went down to the ramp to verify what I did not want to believe but yes; somebody thinks it's Ok for engines to ingest sand in the Safety Zone area. I spoke to a Ramp Employee and he said the city is doing it and they cannot get them to stop. This will cause damage to our engines and is therefore a major hazard that needs to be addressed immediately.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1504839
Time
Date	201712
Place
Locale Reference	ISP.Airport
State Reference	NY
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 332
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter FOD