Industrial innovation is accelerating. Automation, electrification, battery storage, hydrogen and increasingly intelligent process control are transforming facilities around the world.

But every technological breakthrough introduces another question: can we understand the new risks quickly enough to manage and insure them? For industrial fire risk insurance, this is becoming one of the defining challenges of the energy and technology transition.

Why is industrial fire risk changing?

Industrial facilities have always evolved. What makes the current transformation unusual is that several major changes are occurring simultaneously. Energy carriers are changing, production is becoming more automated, facilities are increasingly interconnected and battery systems are being deployed at unprecedented scale.

Each development can introduce different ignition mechanisms, fire behaviour, explosion hazards and potential consequences.

Historical loss data remains extremely valuable, but emerging technologies can create scenarios for which historical experience is naturally more limited.

Before an insurer can confidently accept a risk, it needs to understand how that risk is controlled.

What role does insurance play in industrial fire safety?

Insurance is sometimes seen primarily as financial protection after an incident. Engineering-led property insurers take a broader approach by combining insurance with engineering, scientific research and property-loss prevention.

FM, for example, combines insurance with engineering and scientific research focused on property-loss prevention. Its research and engineering activities reflect the principle that many industrial losses can be understood and prevented. That approach becomes particularly important when technology changes.

Can innovation create problems with insurability?

Potentially. Imagine developing a new industrial installation only to discover late in the project that fundamental questions remain about fire protection, separation distances or emergency response. The technology and business case may work, but the risk profile may remain difficult to quantify.

That can create expensive modifications, delays or insurance challenges. The lesson is simple: risk engineering should not begin after innovation has already happened. It should be part of innovation itself.

Why must insurers, engineers and operators collaborate earlier?

No organisation holds all the necessary knowledge. Technology developers understand their systems, operators understand their facilities, fire engineers understand fire behaviour and protection, insurers bring research and loss experience, and emergency services understand what happens when preventive measures fail.

Bringing these perspectives together earlier can expose assumptions before they become expensive problems. Fire safety then becomes an enabler of responsible innovation rather than a barrier to it.

How can industry innovate without creating unacceptable risk?

There will never be zero uncertainty. Emerging technologies are emerging precisely because we do not yet have decades of operational experience with them. The objective is not to eliminate uncertainty before innovation is allowed, but to understand it sufficiently to make informed decisions.

Responsible innovation requires research, testing, engineering judgement, transparent risk assessment and continuous learning from real-world experience.