Global Courant
A college janitor who switched off a freezer after hearing multiple “annoying alarms” ruined more than 20 years of research, according to a lawsuit filed against his employer by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York.
The janitor, who is not charged in the lawsuit, was a contractor at Daigle Cleaning Systems Inc. who spent several months in 2020 working at the private research university in Troy, New York.
The school is seeking more than $1 million in damages and legal fees from Daigle Cleaning Systems as a result of the incident.
The lab’s freezer contained more than 20 years of research, including cell cultures and samples, where a “small temperature swing of three degrees would cause catastrophic damage,” according to the lawsuit filed in the Rensselaer County Supreme Court.
The college does not believe the janitor was at fault, but blames Daigle Cleaning Systems for failing to properly train and supervise him, the lawsuit said.
“Defendant has caused damage to certain cell cultures, samples and/or research in the Lab through and through his negligent, careless and/or reckless supervision and control over (the concierge).”
CNN contacted lawyers from Daigle Cleaning Systems and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for comment.
The lawsuit states that cell cultures and specimens had to be kept in the freezer at -80 degrees Celsius and that a small fluctuation of 3 degrees would cause damage, so alarms would sound if the temperature rose to -78 degrees or dropped to -82 degrees.
KV Lakshmi, a professor and director of the school’s Baruch ’60 Center for Biochemical Solar Energy Research who oversaw the research, noted whether around Sept. 14, 2020, the freeze alarm went off because temperatures had risen to -78 degrees, according to the suit.
Despite the alarm, Lakshmi and her team decided the cell samples would be safe until emergency repairs could be made, the suit said. While Lakshmi waited for the freezer manufacturer to come and make repairs, her team placed a safety lock around the freezer’s electrical outlet and power outlet. According to the court, a warning had been placed on the freezer.
“THIS FREEZER BEEPS WHILE IT IS IN REPAIR. PLEASE DO NOT MOVE OR UNPLUG THE PLUG. NO CLEANING REQUIRED IN THIS AREA. YOU CAN PRESS THE ALARM/TEST STOP BUTTON FOR 5-10 SECONDS IF YOU WANT TO TURN THE SOUND OFF,” the warning read, according to the suit.
But on Sept. 17, the janitor heard what he later called “annoying alarms,” according to the indictment. In an apparent effort to be helpful, he flipped the circuit breakers that supplied power to the freezer by accidentally flipping them from “on” to “off,” the lawsuit said. It said the freezer temperature had risen to -32 degrees Celsius.
The next day, research students found that the freezer had been turned off and despite efforts to preserve the research, a majority of the cultures had been “compromised, destroyed and rendered useless by destroying more than two decades of research,” the lawsuit said.
