On July 12 a power failure in Graves Hall caused temperatures to soar to 105.9 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in the death of 689 Ohio State research animals.

A final report by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee said two problems led to the deaths.

The first was that no University Laboratory Animal Resources personnel were notified of the power outage.

“As a result, no intervention on behalf of the animals could be done until ULAR staff arrived” the next morning, according to the final report by Lane Wallace, chairman of IACUC.

Second, the heating system was set to “fail on” mode which is used during the winter to prevent the freezing of pipes. So when the power was restored the heat came on in this mode resulting in the extreme temperatures.

“The break down was that the university staff responded to the power outage, but the people responsible didn’t recognize that there was an animal lab in this facility so the ULAR was not notified,” said Earle Holland, associate executive director of University Relations.

With the end of the investigation OSU has responded by making modifications to the heating system in Graves Hall. The re-heat coils have been turned “off” to prevent over-heating. If there is a power failure the units will “remain at the level they were at prior to the power failure,” according to the final report.

In addition to the alterations of the heating system, the environmental alarms in Graves Hall have been restored and are fully functional. The alarms also have back up power and include a system which notifies ULAR staff.

“The alarm system accommodates a number of situations, break-ins, environmental or any type of situation that would put the animals at risk,” Holland said.

Holland said the corrective responses have already begun in Graves Hall and the university has begun to asses the other facilities. He said these improvements will be done as quickly as possible.

He also said about $161,000 will be allocated to replace the animals and about $1.3 million will go toward instillation of alarm systems.

The funds will be drawn from the Office of Research, Physical Facilities and the College of Medicine.

Holland said for now, “we are focusing on fixing the problem more than paying the bill.

“Nobody wants these things to happen, but they happen anyway. We had a need for a better communications system and we’re pretty confident we’ve solved that problem,” Holland said.