Janitor attempting to stop beeping noise destroys decades of scientific work and causes at least $1M in damages

[Daltonio]

Annoyed janitor turns off super-cold freezer, destroying decades of scientific work and causing at least $1M in damages: lawsuit

A janitor working in a laboratory who was annoyed by an incessant beep reportedly flipped a switch that killed the noise — but also shut off a storage freezer, destroying decades of scientific work, according to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute lab in Troy.

The cleaner’s alleged carelessness cost the lab at least $1 million in damages, a lawsuit the university filed against its third-party cleaning service charges.

“People’s behavior and negligence caused all this,” Michael Ginsberg, RPI’s attorney, told the Times Union in Albany. “Unfortunately, they wiped out 25 years of research.”

The super-cold freezer the custodial worker allegedly shut down held cell cultures, samples, and other elements stored at minus-112 degrees Fahrenheit, the Times Union said.

But when the worker from Daigle Cleaning Services shut off the circuit breaker on Sept. 17, 2020, to silence a beeping alarm, the temperature leapt to minus-25.6 degrees, which damaged or destroyed the material, the lawsuit claimed.

 

[MrDawn]

I'd say the janitor is going to have file for bankruptcy just to get out of the lawsuit. Either way, his credit score is ruined lol.

 

[Webster]

I'd say the janitor is going to have file for bankruptcy just to get out of the lawsuit. Either way, his credit score is ruined lol.

Its' not his fault; the university never told the cleaning service about that.
Awful nice of the pricks to throw a working-class fellow under the bus....

 

[Daltonio]

Its' not his fault; the university never told the cleaning service about that.
Awful nice of the pricks to throw a working-class fellow under the bus....

I'd say they share the blame. There was a sign there but they should have had some type of backup system in place.
Personally if I was cleaning in an environment like that, I wouldn't be touching any type of equipment I hadn't been trained on.

 

[Nebulous]

I'd say they share the blame. There was a sign there but they should have had some type of backup system in place.
Personally if I was cleaning in an environment like that, I wouldn't be touching any type of equipment I hadn't been trained on.

Well he just hit a switch on a breaker box. Don’t need training for that. However I think he was acting beyond his role in doing that. If the lab really was bothered by the beeping noise, they would have had a repair man look into it.