The incident happened at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York (Picture: Getty)
A cleaner shut off a lab freezer that contained decades of ‘groundbreaking’ research because it was making a bleeping noise, US lawyers claim.
The alleged incident happened at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, in 2020, Times Union reports.
An alarm went off three days before the incident because the freezer temperature had risen by 3C.
Though the fluctuation could have been catastrophic, Professor KV Lakshmi ‘determined that the cell cultures, samples and research were not being harmed,’ the legal case read.
A sign on the freezer’s door 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.’
Days after the alarm started sounding, the cleaner turned off the circuit breaker providing electricity to the freezer.
The lawyers said samples stored at -80C (-112F) were left ‘unsalvageable’, causing $1m in damages despite a sign explaining how to mute the beep.
A sign allegedly told people not to clean in the area (Picture: Getty Images)
The majority of specimens that were meant to be kept at -80C were ‘compromised, destroyed and rendered unsalvageable, demolishing more than 20 years of research’, according to the legal case.
By the time researchers had discovered the error the temperature had allegedly risen by 50 degrees to about -30C.
The lab’s school is now suing the cleaner’s employer -Daigle Cleaning Services – for improper training.
The company held a $1.4m (£1.1m) contract to clean Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The research on photosynthesis, headed by Prof Lakshmi, had the potential to be ‘ground-breaking’ in furthering solar panel development, a lawyer for the institute has claimed.
The research was left ‘unsalvable’ and caused $1m in damages
It took a week before any repairs could begin at the time because of coronavirus.
A report filed by public safety staff at the institute said the cleaner thought they were flipping the breaker on when they actually turned it off, the New York Post reported.
The cleaner heard ‘annoying alarms’, and lawyers who interviewed him reported ‘he still did not appear to believe he had done anything wrong, but was just trying to help,’ lawyer Michael Ginsberg told NBC News.
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A sign even instructed people not to clean near the freezer.
