In a legal battle that continues to unfold, a janitor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is accused of devastating decades of laboratory research, resulting in an ongoing lawsuit.
The laboratory freezer housed numerous cultures vital to a long-term research initiative, the details of which remain undisclosed. Nonetheless, the research carried the potential for groundbreaking discoveries under the supervision of K.V. Lakshmi, a distinguished professor, and director of Rensselaer's Center for Biochemical Solar Energy Research, according to court documents.
Maintaining the lab freezer at a constant -80 degrees Celsius was imperative to avoid “catastrophic damage and potential loss” of numerous cell cultures and samples, as highlighted in the lawsuit.
As a precaution, an alarm would sound if the freezer temperature increased to minus 78 degrees or decreased to minus 82 degrees Celsius. On September 14, 2020, the alarm was triggered, but after a “review,” Lakshmi determined there was no harm to the cultures.
Dr. Lakshmi contacted the freezer’s manufacturer to schedule an emergency service. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the freezer could not be serviced until a week after the alarm incident, as stated in the lawsuit. To mitigate potential risks during this period, a "safety lock box" was installed to prevent accidental unplugging of the freezer, according to the legal filing.
Further preventive measures, such as a notice affixed to the freezer door, were implemented as outlined in the lawsuit.
“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.”
On September 17, 2020, Joe Herrington turned off the circuit breaker that provided electricity to the lab freezer causing the freezer temperature to rise to -32 degrees, the lawsuit claims.
After hearing an “annoying alarm,” the janitor switched the electrical circuit, according to a conducted interview by the university.
Herrington understood that he had no authority to “touch the breakers” but maintained he was trying to help, according to the incident report.
Graduate students were determined to save the contents the next day, but could not save the majority of it, the lawsuit says.
“People’s behavior and negligence caused all this…” said RPI attorney, Michael Ginsberg to Times Union who first reported the lawsuit.
"There's people all over the media that are bashing him, and it's very sad," said Derek Foster, the President of Daigle Cleaning Systems, in an interview with CBS6 Albany.
"It has been suggested to us that RPI simply failed to invest in the proper safeguards," Foster noted.
Herrington was hired through the Living Resources organization, an organization that empowers individuals with disabilities or other life-challenging conditions.
The lawsuit, however, does not name Herrington as a defendant, individually. Rather, the lawsuit argues that Daigle Cleaning Systems failed to properly train Herrington.
In 2020, Daigle Cleaning Systems signed a 1.4 million dollar contract with the university to clean its facilities including the Cogswell Building where the freezer was located. Now the New York research university plans to seek more than 1 million dollars in damages and other compensatory relief from Daigle Cleaning Systems.
