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Operational peril

Machinery Breakdown

Sudden electrical and mechanical failure of plant, the peril your fire policy explicitly excludes.

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The risk

Your fire policy will not pay for a burnt-out motor.

Machinery Breakdown cover responds to sudden and unforeseen physical damage to plant, short circuits, overpressure, centrifugal force, operator error, that fire and property policies specifically exclude. For asset-heavy operators the bigger exposure is the loss of profit while a critical machine is down and a replacement part sits on a long import lead time.

Exposure profile

Where this risk lands on your balance sheet.

The exposures we evaluate first when scoping a programme against this risk.

01
Sudden electrical / mechanical failure
Motors, transformers, compressors and turbines fail without warning; the fire policy excludes the cause.
02
Long replacement lead times
Imported spares and bespoke components can take weeks, extending downtime and loss.
03
Loss of profit on a stalled line
One critical machine down can halt an entire line; MLOP cover responds where breakdown alone does not.
04
Deterioration of stored stock
Cold-storage and process failures spoil stock the moment the equipment stops.
Industries most exposed

Who carries the most of this risk.

The sectors where this exposure is most acute, each links to its industry page.

01
Steel & Metal Fabrication
Furnaces, rolling mills and heavy presses.
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02
Cement & Concrete
Kilns, crushers and continuous plant.
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03
Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences
Process, utility and clean-room equipment.
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04
Textiles & Garments
Spinning, weaving and dyeing machinery.
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05
Engineering & EPC Contractors
High-value, hard-to-replace equipment.
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06
Warehousing & Cold Storage
Refrigeration and compressor plant.
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Recommended cover

The programme that responds to this risk.

Each cover links to its full product page. The combination, limits and wording are what we structure on your behalf.

01
Plant & Machinery
Sudden breakdown plus Machinery Loss of Profit (MLOP) for critical lines.
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02
Fire & Burglary
Property cover alongside breakdown for full-asset protection.
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03
Contractor's All Risk
Erection and testing cover for new and installed plant.
Learn about this cover →

Want a risk-specific programme review?

Speak with an advisor who has structured cover against this risk for clients in your sector.

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FAQ

Common Questions

Fire destroys a machine from the outside. This is the machine failing on its own: a winding burns out, a bearing seizes, a shaft fractures. It happens far more often than fire, it is expressly excluded by the fire policy, and on most plants nobody notices the gap until a machine stops.
The ones with the longest replacement lead time rather than the highest value. An imported press that takes four months to source stops the factory for four months. A cheaper machine with a local supplier does not, whatever it cost.
It reduces frequency and it does not remove severity. Maintenance addresses wear, which is excluded anyway. Sudden failure of a well-maintained machine is exactly what this risk is, and a good maintenance record makes the cover easier to place rather than unnecessary.
Older machines fail more often and are harder to replace, and past a certain age insurers restrict or decline cover altogether. So the exposure rises and the ability to transfer it falls at the same time, which is why the year of manufacture of each machine matters more here than the total value.
The production lost while it is out of service, and on large rotating plant the damage a failure causes to everything around it. Both are frequently larger than the repair, and both are addressed separately from the machine's own sum insured.