On The Subject Of Removing Stairs Without Approval
Same shyte happened to me last night, departing a fairly big Scandihoovian airport where ground handling is provided by our own staff. Our manual is quite clear in this respect; stairs are not to be removed without approval by crew.
As it was, we were loaded and ready to go and I had closed the cargo door. I poked my head into the cockpit asking if we were clear to close the L1, but the skipper was not quite there yet. I stood outside the cockpit (B757) and patiently waited until the flyboys reached that page in the book which would allow us to close the door, no rush. However, as I'm stood there I see the stairs slowly move away, quite to my disbelief. It must be added here that this particular station usually sets very high standards. I went to the door and "Oi'd" the handlers, who duly pushed the stairs back. However, I did go downstairs and gave the loading supervisor a friendly talking to. No need to raise voice or anything, but he was told in no uncertain terms that a reproduction of that incident on his part would lead me to reach for 'puter and email! He got the message.
PS
At most stations we always close the door after stairs have been removed. I personally have no problems physically manhandling a door from the inside, but appreciate that people sporting less mass and, dare I say it, muscles may have more of a problem. This begs the question whether (narrowbody Boeing) aircraft door are incorrectly designed if a petite female CC cannot safely close them, or whether CC should demonstrate the physical ability to safely close the door.
PS
In our outfit we've lost a FE owing to stairs being taken away without approval, and we've had another 2 sustaining serious injuries in falls from aircraft. We take this pretty serious, and tend to come down hard on those who fail to grasp that safety of our crews is more important than an additional 2 minute coffee break!