Adding a battery changes your site's fire risk, and insurers know it. Get the evidence right and cover is usually straightforward. Get it wrong and you can face exclusions, tough conditions or a significantly higher premium, sometimes after the battery is already installed.
Why insurers care
Lithium-ion batteries are very reliable, but when a cell fails badly it can overheat and spread to the cells around it (thermal runaway), giving off flammable and toxic gases. It's rare, but the consequences are serious, so insurers want to know the risk has been designed out rather than hoped away.
What insurers usually want to see
- Product certification and test data. Battery cells and systems tested to recognised standards such as IEC 62619, and large-scale fire test results (UL 9540A or equivalent) showing what happens if a fire starts.
- A compliant installation. Electrical work to BS 7671, including Chapter 57 on stationary batteries.
- The right location. Separation from buildings, stock and escape routes, or a properly fire-rated room or enclosure if it has to be indoors.
- Detection, ventilation and shutdown. Gas and smoke detection, a battery management system that isolates faults, and ventilation or explosion venting where needed.
- A plan for the fire service. Clear signage, isolation points and an emergency response plan, following National Fire Chiefs Council guidance where it applies.
- Maintenance and monitoring. Evidence the system will be looked after for its whole life, not just commissioned and forgotten.
Many insurers also apply their own standards on top, so it pays to ask early.
Where it goes wrong
The usual story: a battery is chosen on price, without full test data, squeezed into a plant room near stock or people, and the insurer only hears about it at renewal. By then the options are expensive.
What we do
- Talk to your insurer or broker before any equipment is chosen.
- Specify batteries with the certification and fire test evidence insurers expect.
- Design the location, separation, detection and ventilation to match.
- Put together the evidence pack, so cover is agreed before the battery is built, not after.