Property & Casualty + Business Interruption for Data Centers

Glossary

Business interruption cover

Insurance that replaces income and continuing expenses lost while a damaged facility recovers, bounded by an indemnity period that caps how long the insurer will pay.

Clean-agent suppression

Fire suppression using inert gases or chemical agents that extinguish a fire without soaking equipment, chosen for data halls because water and smoke damage sensitive electronics that never caught fire.

Contingent business interruption

Cover for income lost because of a disruption at an external dependency — a supplier, utility, or key customer — rather than physical damage to the insured's own premises.

Engineering-led underwriting

A model in which the insurer prices a specific facility from physical inspection and loss-prevention standards rather than historical loss averages, making risk improvement and pricing a single conversation.

Equipment breakdown cover

Insurance for sudden internal, electromechanical failure of plant such as transformers, switchgear, chillers, and generators, distinct from damage caused by external perils like fire or flood.

Maximum foreseeable loss

The largest single loss an underwriter realistically expects from one event given a building's layout and defences; in a data center it sits uncomfortably close to the full sum insured because value is so concentrated.

Occupancy, protection, exposure

The three drivers underwriters use to price a property: the intrinsic hazard of what the building is and does (occupancy), the defences against loss (protection), and what the outside world can inflict on it (exposure).

Pre-action sprinkler

A sprinkler system that keeps water out of its pipes until two independent signals confirm a real fire, reducing the risk of accidental discharge over electronics.