B737-800 flight crew reported missing hazmat required documents at departure airport.

Attributes
ACN	1641608
Time
Date	201905
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 10000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Did not have a notoc [notice to captain] for our dry ice. During taxi out/ before takeoff checklist; first officer [first officer] mistook 'right/a' for 'left/a' and mentioned that we had one live animal in the aft cargo. It was twilight; not quite needing overhead lights to review the printout from ACARS. We completed our checks and departed ZZZ. After level off; I happened to scroll through a message on the FMC ACARS page that had our close out . When I saw it; I noticed the line labeled 'right/a' instead; and double checked with dispatch; saying we had not received a notoc at the gate at ZZZ. Dispatch messaged ZZZ; and then he forwarded the missing notoc to us: a single package containing dry ice was indeed in the aft cargo compartment. To prevent this in the future: presumably crew chief will not forget documents to give to the captain. Failing that; a brighter light on the printout; during review of the close out; will help us trap the crew chief/cargo error.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 Flight Crew reported missing Hazmat required documents at departure airport.

Narrative: Did not have a NOTOC [Notice to Captain] for our dry ice. During taxi out/ before takeoff checklist; FO [First Officer] mistook 'R/A' for 'L/A' and mentioned that we had one live animal in the aft cargo. It was twilight; not quite needing overhead lights to review the printout from ACARS. We completed our checks and departed ZZZ. After level off; I happened to scroll through a message on the FMC ACARS page that had our close out . When I saw it; I noticed the line labeled 'R/A' instead; and double checked with Dispatch; saying we had not received a NOTOC at the gate at ZZZ. Dispatch messaged ZZZ; and then he forwarded the missing NOTOC to us: a single package containing dry ice was indeed in the aft cargo compartment. To prevent this in the future: presumably crew chief will not forget documents to give to the Captain. Failing that; a brighter light on the printout; during review of the close out; will help us trap the crew chief/cargo error.

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.