A heads up would have been nice because yikes!
A janitor turned off an annoying alarm in a freezer and ended up ruining over 20 years of scientific research in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The worker, Joseph Herrington, stated that he was cleaning up a lab when he heard the alarms that he thought signaled power was off for a freezer that had scientific samples at minus 80 degrees Celsius.
It turns out that his assumption was a bad mistake. The alarm, according to a suit filed against Herrington’s employer, Daigle Cleaning Systems, was a signal that there was a harmless fluctuation of three degrees. Not knowing this, the man proceeded to flip the circuit breakers and bringing the temperature to minus 32 degrees. “Unfortunately, they wiped out 25 years of research,” Michael Ginsberg, Rensselaer’s attorney, told the Times Union. According to Ginsberg, these samples were part of a study to explore photosynthesis and could have implications for solar panel development.
“We don’t believe there was any nefarious conduct (on the) part of the cleaning company,” Ginsberg added. “This was a result of human error. The core of the case, however, is that the cleaning company failed to adequately train their personnel.”
But was there a note or a heads up concerning the freezer, one might ask. Well, according to the lawsuit, Ginsberg did post a note on the unit. “THIS FREEZER IS BEEPING AS IT IS UNDER REPAIR. PLEASE DO NOT MOVE OR UNPLUG IT,” the note said. “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.”
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