Air carrier pilot reported seeing ramp personnel at the gate wearing music headphones and expressed concern that this behavior is unsafe and needs to be addressed.
Synopsis
Air carrier pilot reported seeing ramp personnel at the gate wearing music headphones and expressed concern that this behavior is unsafe and needs to be addressed.
Narrative
Setting the parking brake at gate X in ZZZ; EVERY SINGLE RAMPER servicing the aircraft had either AirPods in their ears; or full on headphones over their ears. I've written previous reports about this rampant and flagrant safety violation in ZZZ and other stations; and I see the problem has only gotten worse. Management is being outright negligent by ignoring these safety violations; it's so obvious you'd have to be sticking your head in the sand to not see it. Rampers with music headphones in listening to music cant see hazards on the ramp to themselves; to our equipment and aircraft and ultimately our passengers. Not only is this unacceptable on the part of our ramp crews; but it's abhorrently unacceptable on the part of our ramp managers; supervisors and crew chiefs who are allowing this flagrant safety violation to continue. Management's negligence in allowing these safety lapses to continue are contributing to an unsafe culture and environment on our ramps. You can't just correct ramp agents who are working with music devices in their ears; you need to actually hold management; supervisors; and crew chiefs accountable for these safety lapses. Just providing corrective action to ramp agents and not management is not a just safety culture. Everyone needs to be held accountable for safety. I do my very best at work; I've been a ramp agent; and I know first hand the danger on the ramp. I don't want to read about another ramp agent hurt or killed and know that if I didn't file a report it could have been prevented.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.