Janitor Accidentally Ruins 20 Years of ‘Groundbreaking’ Cell Research by Turning Off Freezer
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is suing a cleaning company that hired a janitor who they say caused “catastrophic damage” to its research because of "annoying alarms"
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USAA New York research university is seeking $1 million in damages from a cleaning company after a janitor allegedly turned off a freezer and “destroyed” more than 20 years of cell research.
On Sept. 17, 2020, a janitor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute turned off a freezer containing "groundbreaking" cell research after hearing “annoying alarms," causing “catastrophic damage," according to a June 16 complaint filed by the university with the Rensselaer County Supreme Court.
The institute is suing Daigle Cleaning Systems, who employed the janitor, placing the blame on the company for not training their employee in how to handle the environment of the laboratory, a filing obtained by PEOPLE shows.
The institute added in the lawsuit that it does not blame the janitor, who “upon information and belief … is a person with special needs,” but does blame Daigle for failing to "properly train" him.
Within this, the college accuses Daigle of being “negligent, careless and reckless” in hiring the janitor, and that its “reckless supervision" directly led to the "damage to certain cell cultures, samples, and/or research in the Lab.”
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The accident dates back to a fault with the freezer unit on Sept. 14, 2020. Ordinarily, the unit needed to be kept at -80 Celsius (-112 Fahrenheit) to preserve the cell specimens but on that date, the temperature rose to -78 C (-108 F) and an alarm sounded.
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Professor K.V. Lakshmi, who supervised the cell research at the time, determined the cell samples were safe at the temperature until emergency repairs on the freezer could be completed on Sept. 21, and to ensure the freezer was not unplugged while it was sounding a "consistent alarm," he also fitted a safety lock box on the freezer's outlet and socket.
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USAAs an extra measure, the court filing states that Lakshmi left a warning note on the freezer, which read, “THIS FREEZER IS BEEPING AS IT IS UNDER REPAIR. PLEASE DO NOT MOVE OR UNPLUG IT. NO CLEANING REQUIRED IN THIS AREA. YOU CAN PRESS THE ALARM/TEST MUTE BUTTON FOR 5-10 SECONDS IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MUTE THE SOUND.”
Despite this, on Sept. 17, 2020, a janitor allegedly heard the alarms and cut the electricity to the freezer, mistakenly turning the circuit breakers from “on” to off”, the lawsuit states. The temperature rose to -32 C (- 26 F) as a result, causing the cell samples to be “compromised, destroyed, and rendered unsalvageable demolishing more than twenty (20) years of research.”
During an interview with the Rensselaer Institute's Department of Public Safety, the janitor "admitted to turning off the circuit breaker causing the freezer to shut off," causing damages of "a sum not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000.00)" according to the court filing.
An Incident Report also states that the janitor "admitted to hearing the 'annoying alarms' throughout the evening hours and being in the janitor's closet and looking at the electrical box."
“An ounce of prevention in the employee’s training would have gone a long way here,” the university's lawyer Michael Ginsberg told The Washington Post.
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