Parties to said dispute were given due notice of hearing thereon.

On February 15, 1995, Claimant, a Machine Operator with 19 years of service, injured his right knee in a fall while attempting to escape from a swarm of hornets while on assignment near Minden, Louisiana. According to Claimant, at approximately 11:00 A.M. that day, he disturbed a nest of yellow jackets while unloading new tie plates from a gondola car, and in trying to quickly step out of the car while being stung, slipped and fell coming down the ladder. He landed on his feet, felt pain, but continued to work for the remainder of the day.

Shortly after clocking in the following morning at 7:00 A.M., he reported the previous day's incident. That same morning, while climbing down from the crew cab of a section truck in the rain, his left foot slipped off the bottom step pitching him backwards. Claimant says he was holding onto handrails as required and did not fall down, but the sudden movement caused his right leg to become caught between the step and the cab. After receiving a diagnosis of knee sprain, he returned to work following treatment and lost no time on account of this injury.

On June 19, 1995, Claimant was suspended from service for ten days effective July 12, 1995. Carrier's notice of discipline indicates that it took its action based upon "substantial evidence" in the transcript offormal Investigation revealing violation ofthe Safety Rules cited. The Hearing Officer there had access to Company Exhibit Nos. 3-a through 3-c, 4-a through 4-c, and 5-a and 5-b, photographs of various aspects of the accident scenes, including a bent ladder from various angles, the crew cab and steps and photographs depicting the position Claimant was in when he fell on February 16. Those photos, it seems apparent from that record, were vital ingredients in Carrier's judgment on the negligence issues presented.

In the record provided to the Board the pictures in question are photocopied and useless as evidence. Without them, while it is impossible to say that the Carrier lacked justification in imposing discipline, on this record the Board must find that the Carrier failed to meet its burden of proof that Claimant was in violation of its Rules on February 15 and 16,1995. Accordingly, the claim must be sustained. The ten day suspension shall be removed from Claimant's record and he shall be made whole.

AWARD