B737-800
Flight Attendant Current
Distraction; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Procedure; Human Factors
Aircraft was closed up and flight attendants were picking up pre-departure beverages and preparing for the demo. I heard loud banging on the R1 door and saw it was catering. I knelt down and disarmed the girt bar and removed the strap; IMMEDIATLEY the caterer pulled the door open and that is when we saw the girt bar must have come lose and was caught in the floor bracket again; causing the slide pack to come partially out of the frame. D Flight Attendant witnessed what occurred. Captain was informed and Maintenance came. I am unclear to what may have happened.  Perhaps a maintenance issue or perhaps I did not fully secure the girt bar when I was disarming it. I suggest looking down again at the girt bar after disarming it to be sure it is securely disarmed.
We had just finished arming the R1 and L1 doors and the A Flight Attendant was announcing on the PA; 'All electronics must be completely powered off.' A knocking sound was heard from the R1 door. The A Flight Attendant went to R1 and I went to my L1 door. I looked out to see the CSA was returning the jetway and then turned to watch A Flight Attendant bend down; remove the girt bar from the clips and place it on the brackets. I then turned quickly to see where the jetway was and turned back again to see her placing the strap in the disarm position. She started to open the door and as she did catering grabbed the door and swung it hard at the same time. I turned back to my door and see the CSA at my door and proceeded to disarm L1 and open my door. While doing this I hear a commotion behind me and I turned back to crosscheck the R1 and see the door is not fully opened and the A Flight Attendant is leaning against the carts in the galley and was shaking and pointing to the slide which had partially fallen out and the girt bar which had somehow fallen back into the clips on the floor. I immediately picked up the PA and called the Captain to advise him of the incident and he said he was calling Maintenance. He then opened the flight deck door and asked if we were okay. I said I was; but the A Flight Attendant was not and was visibly shaking and mumbling she was feeling faint and lightheaded. I moved her to the flight deck and then moved back out to the galley area where the CSA and supervisors were checking out the situation. I called the back and spoke to the C Flight Attendant and asked if she knew of any medical issues of the A Flight Attendant and she said no. C Flight Attendant came forward and tried speaking to the A Flight Attendant; but she was not responding to the questions. The C Flight Attendant stated the catering crew also grabbed her door before she could disarm her door fully. They were there because they had miss catered our plane. None of us were aware they were coming back to cater us again. Maintenance came on board and repaired the slide. The force of the door being jerked open or something catching the girt bar may have caused it to fall off and back into clips on the floor. I was not focused on that part of the incident but I did see the A Flight Attendant putting the girt bar on the door brackets.
A rushed catering person opened a B737-800 R1 door as the A Flight Attendant was disarming the slide causing it to drop out of the slide pack and onto the catering truck.