Flyblue that is a tragic piece of news.
I know of at least 5 similar instances in the UK where fortunately the cabin crew member has survived a fall from a door or off the stairs as they moved off the a/c, albeit in one instance with a serious injury for life. ALL these accidents were widely reported at the time they happened, ALL were investigated thoroughly.
In 2 of the incidents they were exactly the same as the one you describe, the Cabin Crew member standing on the steps to start to close the door because it is easier than hanging out of the doorway. This procedure wasn't in any of the airlines manuals therefore the CC was found to be partly responsible. The driver of the steps had checked there was no one on the steps, climbed back into his vehicle and started to drive off. It was in the short time between their checking the steps were clear and starting to drive off that the cabin crew had gone onto the steps. Recommendation was that another person should monitor the steps whilst the driver got into his vehicle and prepared to drive off, just in case a cabin crew chose to use them to shut the door. Reality shows that this isn't always possible to achieve with short turnrounds and minimum staffing.
However, no recommendation has been made that future aircraft designs should look to eliminate the need for CC to have to leave the aircraft to start to close the doors.. Maybe, just maybe, some good will come out of this tragic death and rules will be changed.
I wonder how easy it is to close the doors on the top cabin of the A380?