L2020-01 Serious injury to a crew member on the apron of the Helsinki Airport on 13 January 2020

After returning from a flight, Finnair’s Airbus A320 aircraft had been parked on the apron of the Helsinki Airport to allow the passengers to exit on 13 January 2020. The passengers exited the aircraft via stairs to a bus, and the cabin crew member (CCM4) responsible for the left rear door of the aircraft agreed with the driver of the staircase vehicle that the stairs would be driven away. Because another aircraft was taxiing nearby, the bus could not depart for the terminal immediately, and therefore the staircase vehicle at the rear door could not move either. The senior cabin crew member (SCC) noticed that the bus was not moving and made an announcement to the crew, asking if anyone had given the bus driver the OK sign to indicate that all passengers had exited the aircraft and that the bus could depart for the terminal. The cabin crew member responsible for the rear of the aircraft (CCM2) realised that she had forgotten to give the OK sign and hurried to the left rear door of the aircraft, opening it. Because there was no direct visual contact to the bus driver from the door and the staircase vehicle was still in place, the crew member stepped on the top platform of the staircase vehicle to give the sign. While the crew member was stepping back into the aircraft, the staircase vehicle started to move away from the aircraft. As a result, the crew member overbalanced and fell a distance of approx. 3.5 m from the door to the apron, suffering severe injuries.

In Finnair’s handbooks and instructions, the duties and areas of responsibility of the cabin crew have been defined in several places. CCM2, who was injured in the accident, believed that she was responsible for giving the OK sign, even though CCM4 had already given the sign to the staircase vehicle driver. In the accident, only CCM4 was aware that the OK sign had been given, meaning that the situational awareness of the crew was not at the same level at the time of the accident.

Finnair’s cabin crew have been instructed to call for help in Finland by calling the emergency number 112. As for the flight crew, they have been instructed to contact air traffic control with the aircraft radios. In the accident, SCC notified the cockpit about the fall, from which the captain reported the incident to Finnair’s Hub Control Centre (HCC), which then called 112.

Aviation operators have a statutory duty to draw up an occurrence report on occurrences, incidents and accidents, which is also sent to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency. The safety management organisations of aviation operators draw up risk assessments on occurrences and take measures to improve safety, if necessary. The Occurrence Reporting Regulation obliges every organisation and actor involved in the accident to draw up an occurrence report; however, the Regulation does not require the organisations to share the occurrence reports with each other. From 2015 to 2020, approximately 50 occurrences related to the operation of an aircraft door, the staircase vehicle or the passenger bridge have taken place in Finland. However, the safety risks mentioned in these occurrence reports have not resulted in notable monitoring or other measures by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency. Neither has Finnair initiated any significant measures with regard to the occurrences concerning them related to the issue.

The Safety Investigation Authority recommends that Finnair

- harmonise and clarify the definition of duties and areas of responsibility of the cabin crew in the CCOM manual and skyGuest application.

- ensure that the cabin crew is trained and instructed to maintain a uniform situational awareness.

- ensure that the instructions and terminology concerning different groups of employees and subcontractors are uniform and that new or changed instructions are implemented at the same time for all groups.

- standardise the instructions of the flight and cabin crew on calling for help in case of an accident occurring to the passengers or crew members of the aircraft while boarding or exiting the aircraft.

- together with its subcontractors, ensure that in accidents or incidents involving the aircraft, its passengers or crew, all parties involved report it to the other parties and process the reports in a coordinated manner.

In addition, the Safety Investigation Authority recommends that the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency

- redefine the usability of occurrence reports in analysing similar events and further enable the use of this information in monitoring its safety management organisations.