The failed hia does remind you why the protocol is there and I think this red was bang on the point of the protocol in that it is designed to hold the player responsible for the consequences of the action and the danger in the contact not the intent.
It’s true Steward couldn’t just disappear. But nor did he materialise at random or beam down from above. He put himself there in a manner of his choosing, creating the conditions for the dangerous contact, however unintended the outcome was. This is precisely what the protocol seeks to hold players to account for.