Narrative:

[An employee] was walking on the inside of the plastics strips at the doorway. [A tug driver] was heading to the belts to drop off his bags from his inbound flight while as he was entering the area; he slowed to a walking pace as he started to go through the plastic curtains at the doorway of the line. His tug did not make it halfway through until he noticed someone on the other side as his tug broke through the heavily sooted curtains. He immediately stopped the tug; and got off and checked on the person whom he had just struck with his tug. Apparently [the employee on the other side of the curtain] was attempting to stop the tug and braced the front of the tug as it was entering the area breaking through the curtains. Being no match for the tug; she was pushed back and to the ground and she suffered minor injuries. This could have been much; much worse had the tug been going faster or if she was not seen at all or even if she hadn't put her hands up. This incident could have been completely avoidable. Skid marks on the ground indicate the driver was not going fast through the area.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Ramp Supervisor reported a tug driver drove a tug through a dirty plastic strip door curtain and struck another employee walking on the other side which resulted in minor injuries.

Narrative: [An employee] was walking on the inside of the plastics strips at the doorway. [A tug driver] was heading to the belts to drop off his bags from his inbound flight while as he was entering the area; he slowed to a walking pace as he started to go through the plastic curtains at the doorway of the line. His tug did not make it halfway through until he noticed someone on the other side as his tug broke through the heavily sooted curtains. He immediately stopped the tug; and got off and checked on the person whom he had just struck with his tug. Apparently [the employee on the other side of the curtain] was attempting to stop the tug and braced the front of the tug as it was entering the area breaking through the curtains. Being no match for the tug; she was pushed back and to the ground and she suffered minor injuries. This could have been much; much worse had the tug been going faster or if she was not seen at all or even if she hadn't put her hands up. This incident could have been COMPLETELY avoidable. Skid Marks on the ground indicate the driver was not going fast through the area.

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.