Filed inland marine forms commonly insure on an open perils basis: direct physical loss from any cause is covered unless the form excludes it. Coverage is therefore defined by the exclusions and limits. Listing specific perils would be the named perils approach.

Common exclusions are losses that are expected, financial or within the insured's own control: - Wear and tear - Delay or loss of market - Dishonest acts of the insured or its employees Theft by strangers is usually covered, which is why candidates sometimes miss the dishonesty exclusion. A sudden accidental fire is exactly what open perils coverage is meant to pay.

Electronic data processing (EDP): standard property forms are narrow for computers and data. The ISO business income form, for example, limits interruption of computer operations to $2,500 unless a higher limit is shown in the declarations. An EDP policy gives specialized open perils protection for hardware, media, software and data, and can include the extra cost of keeping processing running. EDP forms are commonly not tied to the described premises.