Complete your annual inventory in PULSE by November 24, 2026 to ensure your temperature-controlled materials are properly insured and protected.

This notice is for University organizations that manage valuable materials in temperature-controlled units. Please share this information with relevant researchers and staff and follow up as needed.

Please review the information below carefully to ensure your valuable materials stored in temperature-controlled units are properly protected.

To review or submit temperature-controlled unit contents you would like to insure, please click this link .

All information must be submitted and reviewed no later than November 24, 2026.

Please be aware that having your unit(s) listed on the University of Utah (UU) property insurance policy and following all the Loss Prevention Protocols is not a guarantee all claims will be covered for reimbursement under the policy.  Insurance coverage on a claim is contingent upon the cause of damage meeting certain criteria and not falling under the UU property policy standard exclusions.

Mitigating risk of loss is an important aspect of storing valuable materials and research contents in temperature-controlled units.  It is no surprise to find that losses across campus are often due to events that are unexpected or not planned for.  Making time to consider various disruptive scenarios can be an important part of limiting, and in many cases, preventing a loss.  Some things to consider when establishing procedures, include planning for:

• Power loss not just to a unit, but to an entire building or area of campus
  • Do you have a backup unit to put your contents in?
  • Do backup unit options include units in a building other than the one your unit(s) is currently located in.
  • Are there any options available for back-up power?
• Technology failures and disruptions in communications, such as wi-fi interruptions, that may prevent notification of a malfunctioning unit or outage
• Time periods during which people are unfamiliar with the use of new equipment or software packages
• Time and distance that may prevent a responsible party from responding in a timely manner that may prevent a loss
• Changes in personnel or other pertinent circumstances that may leave established emergency plans outdated; unfamiliarity with emergency plans which are not periodically reviewed by researchers/staff
• Both expected and unexpected loss of personnel that may leave a gap due to lack of cross-training and/or institutional knowledge

To assist you in preventing losses to your important research materials, which in many cases is your life’s work, please also refer to the Loss Prevention Protocols for Temperature Controlled Units listed on the U Risk & Insurance Services website, which includes a link to important Preventive Maintenance Agreement and other information on the VP for Research website.

Your lab/department may have contents in a temperature-controlled unit(s) you want insured.

Please note: In order for contents to be insured, the unit(s) holding the contents must be listed and/or reviewed in the PULSE database during the annual inventory period which opened on October 1, 2026 and closes on November 24, 2026.   If a lab/department obtains a freezer outside of the annual inventory reporting period, the unit contents are not covered by insurance.  Any such unit would need to be added to PULSE during the next annual inventory period, at which point, if all other requirements are met, it would have insurance coverage. The annual inventory process also allows departments to confirm they are meeting the current protocols required for insurance coverage.

Protecting research assets is a shared responsibility, thank you for taking the time to safeguard these critical materials.