A maintenance worker destroyed numerous scientific samples by unplugging a freezer due to an “irritating” alarm, several US media, including NBC News, report on the occasion of the opening of the trial in the United States.
The events date from 2020 and take place in the laboratory of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The research carried out in this laboratory, related to photosynthesis, is presented as having “revolutionary” potential for the development of solar panels.
A posted sign
A few days before the freezer was turned off, an alarm went off to warn of a temperature rise above 3°C. An unforeseen event that did not pose any risk to cell cultures, samples and research according to Professor KV Lakshmi, head of the institute’s chemistry and biology department.
At that time, the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted the intervention services: it was then necessary to wait a week for the freezer to be repaired. Therefore, a sign was placed on the freezer door until the intervention occurred. He says the freezer was beeping because it was being repaired and it shouldn’t be moved or unplugged.
“You can press the alarm button for 5 to 10 seconds if you want to silence the sound”, continues to indicate on the panel.
It was only a few days later, when the alarm started to go off, that the maintenance person present pulled the breaker that supplied electricity to the freezer.
50°C difference
According New York PostA report filed by the institute’s public safety staff said the cleaner thought he was turning on the circuit breaker, when he was turning it off. When the researchers discovered the error, the freezer temperature had dropped to -30°C. Problem: They are supposed to be stored at -80°C.
Consequence: Most of the samples were “compromised, destroyed and rendered unrecoverable, demolishing more than 20 years of research,” according to the lawsuit filed by attorneys at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Damage estimated at 1 million dollars according to these lawyers.
Therefore, the institute decided to sue the cleaning company for inadequate training of its employees. According to the American weekly union of timesthis company had signed a $1.4 million contract to clean up Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
According to the plaintiffs’ attorney, Michael Ginsberg, interviewed by NBC News, the janitor had heard “nuisance alarms” and “still didn’t seem to believe he had done anything wrong, but was just trying to help.”
Source: BFM TV
