'Costly mistake': Cleaner turns off freezer, accidentally destroys decades of research in New York college

In a devastating incident, a cleaner at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, inadvertently erased decades of research by switching offa freezer in an attempt to silence what they deemed "annoying alarm" sounds.

The college has initiated legal action against the cleaner's employer, Daigle Cleaning Systems, claiming insufficient training, reported the Guardian.

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

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The attorney representing RPI, Michael Ginsberg, expressed disappointment, stating, "People's behaviour and negligence caused all this. Unfortunately, they wiped out 25 years of research."

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What really happened?

The incident occurred in 2020 when the unnamed cleaner worked for several months at RPI. The lab freezer that fell victim to the mishap contained various cultures crucial 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 before the freezer was unplugged, an alarm alerted lab personnel of temperature fluctuations.

The lawsuit highlights that, at that point, the specimens remained viable. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time, repairs could not be carried out for a week.

To safeguard the cultures and provide an explanation for the alarm, lab officials posted signs indicating the source of the noise and instructions on how to mute it.

In an effort to prevent further mishaps, Lakshmi installed a lock box on the freezer's outlet and socket to prevent anyone from unplugging it.

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However, on September 17, the 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 heart-wrenching discovery that the samples had become irreparably damaged.

The lawsuit states, "[A] majority of specimens were compromised, destroyed, and rendered unsalvageable, demolishing more than 20 years of research."

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

The lawsuit noted that even after the interview, the cleaner failed to comprehend their mistake and maintained they were only trying to assist, attributing the incident to an "error" in reading the panel.

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