Digital hackers may be the bigger threat but don’t overlook the need for safeguards against more commonplace errors, details Ellie Gabel.
The annoying beeping had been going on for three days. An alarm at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, had been sounding incessantly since 14 September 2020, indicating one of the lab’s freezers was too warm. On 17 September a cleaner from contractor Daigle Cleaning Systems decided to silence it by shutting off the circuit breaker.
His decision would cost more than US$1 million.
Professor in the university’s Baruch ’60 Center for Biochemical Solar Energy Research, Dr KV Lakshmi, had been leading a study of cell photosynthesis at low temperatures. The goal was to improve the conversion of sunlight into usable energy.
The ill-fated freezer contained over 20 years of their samples and cell cultures that had to be kept at -80°C. A change of just 3°C could destroy the freezer’s contents.
On thin ice
On 14 September the freezer’s temperature rose to -78°C. The two-degree temperature fluctuation triggered an alarm, alerting Dr Lakshmi that the cells would be ruined if they got one degree warmer.
Covid-19 restrictions in place at the time meant the maintenance crew couldn’t get to the issue until 21 September. Lakshmi and her team determined the samples would be safe until the freezer’s manufacturer could perform repairs a week later.
In the meantime, as the unit kept beeping, the research team placed a safety lock box around the freezer’s socket and outlet. They also posted a warning on the freezer that read: “This freezer is beeping as it is under repair.”
Additionally, the note warned that the unit should not be moved or unplugged. It also said no cleaning was required in the immediate area and that people could press the alarm’s mute button for five to 10 seconds in order to silence it.
A flip of the switch
The warning wasn’t enough. On the night of 17 September, a cleaner who had been working for only a few months at the lab heard the alarm. Whether he was trying to be helpful or was simply fed up with the sound, he opened an electrical panel and flipped the circuit breakers connected to the freezer. The beeping finally stopped. Inside the freezer, the temperature soared to -32°C (-25°F).
When the research team arrived the next morning, they found the freezer switched off. Their attempts to save the project were in vain – most of the cell cultures were destroyed, rendered completely unsalvageable by the temperature change. In 2023, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute filed a lawsuit against contractor Daigle Cleaning Systems Inc, which had a US$1.427 million contract to clean the school’s facilities in the 2020 autumn semester. The private technological research university is demanding the cleaning company pay more than US$1 million in legal fees and damages.
The institution is not pursuing legal action against the cleaner individually as it does not believe the fault lies ultimately with him. Instead, the university blames the employer for not properly training or supervising its crew. A Rensselaer legal representative clarified that the school asserts that the incident was a result of human error rather than bad intent, as cleaners should not attempt to fix electrical issues.
Re-creating the research will be a costly, timeconsuming affair. However, it’s worth starting this time with a lock on the electrical panel.
Ellie Gabel is a science writer at revolutionized. com whose specialisms include innovative technology, environment and astronomy
