Preventative Maintenance Agreements (PMA’s) required for Temperature Controlled Units (Units) – Final Notice

This is an important message for University organizations that store valuable materials in temperature controlled units.  Original notice was provided to you in January 2019.  Please forward this information to applicable researchers and staff, and follow up as appropriate. 

Recently, university researchers have suffered losses of high value research material due to malfunctioning units.  It was extremely time consuming and difficult for researchers to fully document the specific items lost and justify claimed values, and in many cases, the materials could not all be recreated.  Insurance recoveries have amounted to a small fraction of researcher’s estimates, and it is likely that insurance coverage may be much more limited and/or may be unavailable in future years. 

To assist you in preventing losses to your important research work, which in many cases is your life’s work, please refer to the Loss Prevention Protocols for Temperature Controlled Units. 

To ensure that units are maintained to work their best, University administration has made PMAs a requirement for all units covered by insurance, effective July 1, 2019. Please arrange to have all units inspected, and preventative maintenance done, by July 1, 2019 and on an annual basis thereafter. Since the University is covering the cost of insurance, we ask that you cover the cost of annual preventative maintenance. In the event of a loss, evidence of a PMA that was in effect at the time of the loss will be required in order to process an insurance claim.

Based on an RFP conducted by University Purchasing, the (only) approved external PMA vendor under contract is:

Automated Mechanical
1574 West 2650 South
Ogden, Utah  84401
801- 807-8644
Gerald (Jim) Page – Technician

The following internal departments are also approved to provide preventative maintenance:

• Hospital F & E (Michael Berg 801-581-2781)*;
• Health Science District – Derek Petersen (801-581-6254)
• Science District – Dennis Shaffer (801- 581-6772)
• Academics District – John Palo (801-585-6684)

*Sales order form is required to be filled out.

NOTE:  The internal resources may be limited on what services they can provide to your departments.  You must still comply with this memo.

I hope you find this information helpful in your efforts to protect your valuable materials stored in your temperature-controlled units.  If you have further questions about this new PMA requirement, please contact the Vice President for Research Office. If your questions relate to insurance specifically, please call University Risk & Insurance Services at (801)581-5590.

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CONTACT INFORMATION FOR YOUR FREEZER

Please provide full contact information on the front of your freezer or temperature controlled unit for people who can assist facilities personnel in assessing freezer contents in the event of an emergency freezer failure. Forms for doing this can be found at cores.utah.edu under the ‘Freezer’ Tab.

 

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