Janitor wipes off 20 years of research trying to silence 'annoying alarms'

RPI's lawsuit mentions Daigle Cleaning Systems Inc. as the defendant after it was contracted for cleaning services at Cogswell Building, a center carrying our research in areas of biology and chemistry. The premises are where K.V. Lakshmi, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology, conducts her work in solar energy conversion in photosynthesis and how to capture to convert into usable energy.

The beeping freezer

At the center of the lawsuit is one freezer that contained important research material belonging to Lakshmi's laboratory and was set to beep if temperatures increased to -108.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-78 degrees Celsius) or dropped to -115.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-81.66 degrees Celsius).

On September 14, 2020, Lakshmi and her team noticed that the freezer temperature had risen to -108.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-78 degrees Celsius) and was beeping to alarm the staff on site. The group contacted the freezer manufacturer for emergency repairs but was told that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a technician would only reach them by September 21, one week later.

Lakshmi's team then installed a safety lock box on the freezer's electrical outlet and posted the following note.

“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 janitor who wanted to help

On September 17, Joseph Herrington, a member of Daigle's cleaning crew, annoyed by the noise of the beeping alarms, presumed that the breakers of the freezer were off and proceeded to switch them on.

In his attempt, he inadvertently switched them off at around 8:30 pm local time, and it was only in the morning that the research team found out that the temperature of the freezer had increased to -25.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-32 degrees Celsius).

By then, the "majority of specimens were compromised, destroyed and rendered unsalvageable demolishing more than 20 years of research", the organization claimed in its lawsuit.

Internal investigations into the incident revealed that Herrington is a person with special needs. RPI has maintained that Daigle Cleaning Systems failed to properly train Herrington to discharge his duties and is holding the cleaning agency responsible for the loss of prized research.

RPI is requesting a $1 million payout for damages plus interest in the lawsuit from the company and does not hold Herrington responsible for his actions. " Without proper training, anyone could do that," RPI's attorney Michael Ginsberg told NBC News.