Part of the fallout of the financial crisis and recession is adrop in business, which can leave warehouses, factories and officebuildings vacant, creating new risks, a property insurance expertwarns.

“Our experience is that an idle plant gets lost in the shuffle,”said Jonathan W. Hall, an executive vice president with FM Globalin Johnston, R.I. “They turn off the water, they basically board itup and walk away, and you shouldn't do that.”

He noted that while a building may have reduced activity, “youcan't take it off your list of things you're managing from a riskstandpoint.” An idle building still needs security and must bemonitored for things that can go wrong–such as frozenpipes.

Decisions need to be made about whether sprinkler systems shouldbe turned off–depending on the structure and other factors, such aswhether flammable liquids are being left in the building.

“You have plants not running, but as soon as things turn they'renot going to start opening all these plants back up again,” Mr.Hall said. “So you've got this true change in risk that'shappening.”

Other risks to idle property are vandalism, arson, rusting ofunused equipment, “and you still have to manage that. They can'tjust take it off the list. It's still an ongoing asset–they cansell it if they need to.”

He noted that his company recently had such an incident in afacility that was historically used as a seasonal warehouse.

“The production plant had slowed way down and they had a lot ofexcess inventory,” Mr. Hall said. “They moved it into whatotherwise was just a small seasonal thing and they had a big fire.Then you get a very substantial loss at what otherwise was just ablip on the screen.”

The fire was a result of lightning, and the company had notincreased coverage, even though they were storing much moreinventory in the space. Because of high limits, he noted, thepolicy was not affected.

Another impact on property that risk managers need to be awareof is the sustainability issue. “Town, states and provinces arestarting to legislate things that companies need to stay on top ofto be compliant,” Mr. Hall noted. “Green and sustainability arestarting to have a real effect. Water use, for one thing, is beingmore heavily monitored.”