Narrative:

On arriving at aircraft noticed oxygen bottles and other equipment in the jump-seater luggage area aft of the cockpit. Went to view the items and found them to be labeled as 'oxidizer;' a hazardous material item. I asked to speak with the ramp agent and maintenance to determine the legality of these items loaded there. No documentation was on the [flight plan release] or the aml. After speaking with maintenance and ramp agent; neither party could tell me whether this was a legally loaded item. I contacted the [operations director] who took the info; consulted with flight [operation standards] and called me back to say the items either needed to be loaded in a hazmat can or removed. I notified maintenance and the ramp agent. Thereafter; I called the [operations director] back to let him know no hazmat can was aboard and the items would be removed. He then informed me that flight [operation standards] and maintenance had decided the items were okay aboard the aircraft. I informed the [operations director] I needed a written authorization from him to that effect; which he emailed to me.this entire process could have been avoided if an [entry] was in the aml and flight [operation standards] had issued a [flight crew information file] providing guidance to flight crews. This lack of communication is unacceptable. Provide appropriate communication to flight crews by flight standards.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B767 Captain reported finding HAZMAT material on flight deck. Operations Director approved it for transport due to no clearly defined Company published procedure.

Narrative: On arriving at aircraft noticed oxygen bottles and other equipment in the jump-seater luggage area aft of the cockpit. Went to view the items and found them to be labeled as 'Oxidizer;' a hazardous material item. I asked to speak with the ramp agent and Maintenance to determine the legality of these items loaded there. No documentation was on the [flight plan release] or the AML. After speaking with Maintenance and ramp agent; neither party could tell me whether this was a legally loaded item. I contacted the [Operations Director] who took the info; consulted with Flight [Operation Standards] and called me back to say the items either needed to be loaded in a HAZMAT can or removed. I notified Maintenance and the ramp agent. Thereafter; I called the [Operations Director] back to let him know no HAZMAT can was aboard and the items would be removed. He then informed me that Flight [Operation Standards] and Maintenance had decided the items were okay aboard the aircraft. I informed the [Operations Director] I needed a written authorization from him to that effect; which he emailed to me.This entire process could have been avoided if an [entry] was in the AML and Flight [Operation Standards] had issued a [flight crew information file] providing guidance to flight crews. This lack of communication is unacceptable. Provide appropriate communication to flight crews by Flight Standards.

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.