Glossary

Endowment insurance refers to a form of life insurance that pays the face value to the insured either at the end of the contract period or upon the insured's death. This is in contrast to life insurance, which pays the face value only in the event of the insured's death. It is also in contrast with the concept of a pure endowment that pays the face value only if the insured lives to the end of the policy period. Endowment insurance is basically a savings plan with an element of insurance designed to protect the savings plan in the event of premature death. As such, this type of insurance is very expensive and has limited usefulness—for example, retirement saving, saving for the purpose of making a charitable contribution, and the establishment of an education fund for the insured's children.

Energy release theory is a theory of accident causation and control that was developed by Dr. William Haddon Jr. It portrays accidents in terms of energy transference. This transfer of energy, in large amounts and/or at rapid rates, can adversely affect living and nonliving objects, causing injury and damage. Thus, an accident is caused by energy out of control. The theory states that various techniques can be employed to reduce accidents, including preventing the buildup of energy, reducing the initial amount of energy, preventing the release of energy, carefully controlling the release of energy, and separating the energy being released from the living or nonliving object.

Energy Risk and Insurance Specialist (ERIS ® ) is an insurance certification program that consists of a series of courses focusing on the risk management and insurance needs of the energy industry. Those who complete the program are entitled to display the ERIS certification to attest to their knowledge of energy insurance and risk management and dedication to the industry. ERIS courses are approved for insurance agent or broker continuing education (CE) credit and certified public accountant (CPA) continuing professional education (CPE) credit in most states. The ERIS program is administered by International Risk Management Institute, Inc., and delivered online.

Enforceable requirements are conditions or limitations in permits issued under the Clean Water Act, section 402 or 404, that, if violated, could result in the issuance of a compliance order or initiation of a civil or criminal action under federal or applicable state laws. If a permit has not been issued, the term includes any requirement, that, in the regional administrator's judgment, would be included in the permit when issued. Where no permit applies, the term includes any requirement that the regional administrator determines is necessary for the best practical waste treatment technology to meet applicable criteria.

An enforcement decision document (EDD) provides an explanation to the public of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) selection of the cleanup alternative at enforcement sites on the National Priorities List (NPL).

Engaged in trade or business (ETB) is a US income tax term referring to an offshore captive whose business is really being run from onshore, in which case it is ETB and fully taxable in the United States.

An engagement letter is written by a professional, most often an accountant or attorney, stating the scope of work that will be performed for a given client with regard to a specific project. Engagement letters are important because they establish the nature and scope of work that a professional has agreed to provide. Deviation from what is stated in an engagement letter often forms the basis for a claim against the professional.

In the United Kingdom, engineering insurance is a policy that provides boiler and machinery (BM) inspection services as well as coverage for the pressure vessel and any internal accidents. Outside the United States, particularly in the United Kingdom, a property policy provides coverage for property damage resulting from a boiler explosion but not for damage to the object itself. Coverage for the boiler and inspection services must be separately arranged under an engineering insurance policy.

The Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee (EJCDC) is a joint venture of key contractor and engineering professional associations charged with producing standardized documents for use on construction projects involving the use of engineering services as well as guidelines and commentaries on the use of these documents. The committee also participates in educating construction participants as to the roles and responsibilities of each party involved in design and construction of a project.

An ensuing loss clause is an exception to an exclusion in a first-party property policy that applies in a special type of fact pattern where the damage caused by an excluded peril operates as a link in the "chain of events" that enables a covered peril to damage other property. Symbolically, a classic ensuing loss fact pattern can be represented as follows: excluded peril → excluded damage → covered peril → ensuing damage. Note that there must be two kinds of damages—an initial loss and an ensuing loss. Most courts will not apply an ensuing loss provision if an excluded peril caused a covered peril that results in only one kind of damage. Ensuing loss clauses were developed after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Earth movement caused about $80 million in property damage. Gas emitted from pipes broken during the shaking sparked a fire, which spread to the rest of the city and caused another $400 million in other property damage (in 1906 dollars). Symbolically it is seen as: earth movement (excluded peril) → earthquake damage (excluded loss) → fire (covered peril) → fire damage (ensuing loss). Insurers argued that under the ordinary "proximate cause" rule, the earth movement was the peril that set the "chain of events in motion," and that because earth movement was excluded, the fire damage was excluded, too. For example, after the San Francisco earthquake, the California legislature enacted a set of statutes to prevent insurers from disclaiming coverage for fires ensuing from earthquakes. To comply with these and similar statutes in other states, first-party insurers added exceptions to their earthquake exclusions preserving coverage for ensuing fires. Later, ensuing loss exceptions were incorporated into many other types of exclusions.