news:slmiro$sbj$
4...@news.dns-netz.com:
> Stupid fucking Democrat broom riders.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute filed a million-dollar lawsuit against a
cleaning company after a custodian, seeking to stop an "annoying" beep,
allegedly turned off a lab freezer and killed decades of "groundbreaking"
research.
The school in Troy, New York, had contracted with Daigle Cleaning Systems
Inc. to clean the Cogswell Building lab between Aug. 17, 2000, and Nov.
27, 2020, according to a civil complaint filed this month in Rensselaer
County.
A lab freezer was set at -80 degrees Celsius, and even a “small
temperature fluctuation of three (3) degrees would cause catastrophic
damage and many cell cultures and samples could be lost,” according to the
lawsuit.
“The research had the potential to be groundbreaking,” the school's
attorney wrote about the work of chemistry and chemical biology professor
K.V. Lakshmi.
The freezer was allegedly set to sound if its temperature went up to -78
or down to -82. That alert went off Sept. 14, 2020, though Lakshmi and her
team found cell samples to be safe at -78.
The freezer's manufacturer was called for emergency service, but Covid-19
restrictions meant no one could get there until Sept. 21, the lawsuit
stated.
Lakshmi's team employed maximum protections including installing a safety
lock box on the freezer’s outlet and socket, the school said in its
litigation.
But on Sept. 17, cleaning employee Joseph Herrington reported hearing
"annoying alarms" coming from that freezer, plaintiff's attorney Michael
Ginsberg told NBC News on Monday.
Herrington allegedly feared the breakers were off and he acted to turn
them on.
"The action taken by Herrington was an error in his reading of the panel,"
according to an incident report cited in the lawsuit. "He actually moved
the breakers from the 'on' position to the 'off' position at or about 8:30
p.m. At the end of the interview, he still did not appear to believe he
had done anything wrong but was just trying to help."
When research staff showed up the next day, they were stunned to find the
freezer off and temperature up to catastrophically high -32, according to
the lawsuit.
“The Graduate Research Staff discovered that the Freezer was off and that
the temperature had risen to the point of destruction of the contained
research," the complaint said, adding that "a majority of specimens were
compromised, destroyed, and rendered unsalvageable demolishing more than
twenty (20) years of research."
Herrington was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, only his employer
at the time, Daigle Cleaning Systems.
"Upon information and belief, Joe Herrington is a person with special
needs," the lawsuit said. "Despite such knowledge, Defendant failed to
properly train Joe Herrington before, and while, Joe Herrington performed
his duties as Defendant's employee."
Herrington and the company did not immediately return messages on Monday,
seeking their comments.
Ginsberg said the school isn't blaming Herrington but his employer for
allegedly not properly training him.
"The cleaning company failed to train the person who they assigned to do
this work," Ginsberg said Monday. "Regardless of the individual's
capacity, without proper, training anyone could do that."
The lawsuit called Lakshmi 's work as "groundbreaking" and Ginsberg
characterized it as: "Solar energy conversion in photosynthesis systems;
capturing and converting it to useable energy."
Lakshmi and a school representative could not be immediately reached for
comment on Monday.
The lawsuit did not ask for a specific amount in damages but said the
value lost was worth more than $1 million.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/major-research-lost-custodian-flips-
switch-lab-freezer-lawsuit-claims-rcna91160