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Cleaner inadvertently erases decades of research by switching off a freezer in New York college

In a tragic incident, an employee of Daigle Cleaning Systems, a cleaning company at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, unintentionally erased decades of research by mistakenly turning off a freezer to silence what they considered to be “annoying alarm” sounds.

RPI has taken legal action against Daigle Cleaning Systems, citing inadequate training, according to a report by the Guardian.

RPI has filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court in Rensselaer County, seeking damages exceeding $1 million, as reported by the Times Union newspaper.

Michael Ginsberg, the attorney representing RPI, expressed disappointment, stating that the incident was caused by people’s behavior and negligence, resulting in the loss of 25 years of research.

The incident occurred in 2020 when the cleaner, whose name remains undisclosed, worked at RPI for several months. The laboratory freezer affected by the mishap contained various cultures essential to a long-term research project on photosynthesis led by Professor KV Lakshmi from the biology and chemistry department, as reported by the BBC.

Typically, these cultures were stored at an ultra-low temperature of -112°F (-80°C).

On September 14, 2020, a few days prior to the freezer being unplugged, an alarm alerted laboratory staff to temperature fluctuations.

According to the lawsuit, at that point, the specimens were still viable. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, repairs could not be carried out for a week.

To protect the cultures and explain the alarm, lab officials posted signs indicating the source of the noise and provided instructions on how to mute it.

In an attempt to prevent further incidents, Lakshmi installed a lock box on the freezer’s outlet and socket to prevent anyone from unplugging it.

However, on September 17, an employee from Daigle Cleaning Systems mistakenly switched off the circuit breaker, causing the freezer’s temperature to rise.

The following day, lab officials made the devastating discovery that the samples had been irreparably damaged.

The lawsuit states that the majority of the specimens were compromised, destroyed, and rendered unsalvageable, resulting in the destruction of over 20 years of research.

During an interview with university officials, the cleaner expressed the belief that they were turning the circuit breaker on in response to the alarms.

The lawsuit noted that even after the interview, the cleaner failed to grasp their mistake and continued to maintain that they were only trying to assist, attributing the incident to an “error” in reading the panel.

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