Narrative:

This was our first flight of the day and the first leg of the trip. Preflight; pushback and start were completely normal and to SOP. Both engines were started and the pre-taxi checklist was completed prior to starting to taxi. The weather was clear and all ramp areas were dry. There was a company 737 pushing at about the same time from an adjacent gate. When given taxi clearance from ramp tower; we were instructed to transition to the charlie line for a west taxi to avoid the 737 taxing east. We began our taxi and I visually cleared the right side of our aircraft and verbalized clear 'right' to the captain at least two times while we were moving toward the charlie line. Once we were established west bound on the charlie line I looked forward. The captain was looking left to ensure we were going to be clear of the 737 taxiing east. In my peripheral vision; I detected movement to our right. I saw a baggage tug with three or four carts in tow traveling toward us from right to left perpendicular to our path at a high rate of speed. I yelled 'watch out' to the captain. The captain immediately applied full brakes and abruptly stopped the aircraft preventing a collision with the tug. The tug driver appeared to have been looking at a white sheet of paper while he was driving and the tug driver swerved right toward the west at the last second when he finally saw us. The tug driver continued south without stopping. Ramp tower witnessed the incident and called us to ask if we got an identification number off the tug. I commented to ramp tower that we just had a close call with the tug and we thought the tug number was. About the same time; the captain asked me to check on the flight attendants. We received a call from the purser that a flight attendant who had been standing while doing her cabin safety checks had been hurt. We asked if medical attention was needed and the purser said yes. We told ramp tower we needed to return to the gate and to have the emts meet us at the gate. We coordinated with operations to return to the gate. It took several minutes to get ground personnel to park us and the jetway back to the aircraft. We blocked in approximately five to seven minutes after the incident. The emts arrived shortly thereafter. The captain stepped back to the cabin upon completion of the parking checklist. He asked everyone to remain seated to allow the emts to attend to the [injured] flight attendant. The emts removed [the injured] flight attendant from the aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew reports a near collision with a tug pulling carts during taxi from the gate. Hard braking is used and the tug driver swerves at the last second to avoid collision. A Flight Attendant is injured and the flight returns to the gate for medical assistance.

Narrative: This was our first flight of the day and the first leg of the trip. Preflight; pushback and start were completely normal and to SOP. Both engines were started and the Pre-taxi checklist was completed prior to starting to taxi. The weather was clear and all ramp areas were dry. There was a company 737 pushing at about the same time from an adjacent gate. When given taxi clearance from Ramp Tower; we were instructed to transition to the Charlie line for a west taxi to avoid the 737 taxing east. We began our taxi and I visually cleared the right side of our aircraft and verbalized clear 'right' to the Captain at least two times while we were moving toward the Charlie line. Once we were established west bound on the Charlie line I looked forward. The Captain was looking left to ensure we were going to be clear of the 737 taxiing east. In my peripheral vision; I detected movement to our right. I saw a baggage tug with three or four carts in tow traveling toward us from right to left perpendicular to our path at a high rate of speed. I yelled 'watch out' to the Captain. The Captain immediately applied full brakes and abruptly stopped the aircraft preventing a collision with the tug. The tug driver appeared to have been looking at a white sheet of paper while he was driving and the tug driver swerved right toward the west at the last second when he finally saw us. The tug driver continued south without stopping. Ramp Tower witnessed the incident and called us to ask if we got an identification number off the tug. I commented to Ramp Tower that we just had a close call with the tug and we thought the tug number was. About the same time; the Captain asked me to check on the flight attendants. We received a call from the Purser that a flight attendant who had been standing while doing her Cabin safety checks had been hurt. We asked if medical attention was needed and the Purser said yes. We told Ramp Tower we needed to return to the gate and to have the EMTs meet us at the gate. We coordinated with Operations to return to the Gate. It took several minutes to get ground personnel to park us and the jetway back to the aircraft. We blocked in approximately five to seven minutes after the incident. The EMTs arrived shortly thereafter. The Captain stepped back to the Cabin upon completion of the Parking checklist. He asked everyone to remain seated to allow the EMTs to attend to the [injured] Flight Attendant. The EMTs removed [the injured] Flight Attendant from the aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.