Cleaner turns off lab freezer over 'annoying beep' – destroying decades of research

We all know how annoying incessant beeping noises can be, but most of us would rather endure the irritation than get caught up in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

However, one janitor has found himself at the centre of a court battle after he unintentionally destroyed decades of scientific work thanks to niggling alarm.

The cleaner was working in a laboratory in the US city of Troy, Michigan, when he lost his rag at the sound coming from a super-cold storage freezer and decided to turn it off.

Thus, with the flick of a switch, he obliterated 25 years of research and caused at least $1 million (around £785,000) in damages.

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The freezer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) lab contained cell cultures, samples and other research elements that were stored at -112 degrees Fahrenheit (-80C), according to a lawsuit filed in the Rensselaer County Clerk’s Office and seen by the Times Union.

However, once the employee of Daigle Cleaning Services turned off the circuit breaker, temperatures in the unit rose to -25.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-32), thereby resulting in the materials being damaged or destroyed.

The most frustrating part of the whole fiasco is that the janitor could have stopped the beeping without shutting down the unit if only he’d read the sign on the freezer door.

It reportedly stated, in bold print and capital letters: “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.”

The RPI boasts of having 'among the most advanced research facilities' in the USRensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Safety staff at RPI interviewed the cleaner following the unfortunate incident, which occurred back in September 2020. He admitted that he heard the “annoying alarms” throughout the evening so tried to solve the issue himself by going to the machine’s electrical box.

According to a report filed by the RPI, the man thought he was turning on the electrical breakers when he had actually turned them off.

However, the investigation noted that “at the end of the interview, [the janitor] still did not appear to believe he had done anything wrong but was just trying to help.”

RPI’s lawyer Michael Ginsberg said it would take an estimated $1 million to recreate the lost research, which explored photosynthesis and its potentially significant impact on solar-panel development.

“People’s behaviour and negligence caused all this. Unfortunately, they wiped out 25 years of research,” he said.

The lawsuit allegedly seeks unspecified monetary damages.

(And we think it’s bad when our freezer shuts down and we lose an old tub of ice cream…)

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