Do you know if your rigger has the right insurance? Let us see how you can find out within a minute.
If you are reading this article, you must have bought a new machine. You might have hired a rigger or machine move to relieve that new, expensive asset and to move it into your facility or plant.
Similar to most buyers today, you will need your rigger to send you a Certificate of Insurance (COI). This acts as proof of insurance before the work starts. Maybe you are a part of a mid or large company that has some resources for procurement. In that case, you might have given them a list of particular limits and coverages that you need the COI to show. And you have now gotten the COI, but it’s not the time to relax just yet.
Here is an easy and quick guide that helps you decide if your rigger has the right insurance. It will help you check if the insurance might have any problems.
General Liability insurance does not cover your pricey new machine
Despite popular belief, the General Liability (GL) insurance does not cover the new, expensive, and beautiful machine your rigger is managing. You might be tempted by looking at the hefty amount mentioned on your GL. Even though it might come out to be millions with the added umbrella coverage, you need to think again. No matter how much excess and general liability your rigger carries, it is not going to cover the loss or damages that can happen to your machine. It doesn’t even matter how your machine gets damaged when it comes to General Liability insurance. The policy will once cover the damages that might occur if the machine gets struck while they were rigging. It will not cover any damages to the machine they were working on.
Damages to the machine or equipment being rigged are covered under a Riggers Liability or Installation Floater policy
Check your insurance for headings called ‘Installation Floater’ (IF) or ‘Riggers Liability’ (RL). Both of them will cover the machine being rigged. They will generally be under the Inland Marine policy.
Installation Floater coverages and Riggers Liability are different from each other. Riggers Liability is very specific and only covers specific handling activities, moving, and rigging. The Installation Floater is a broad term used to cover the activities under the work that is erected, fabricated, or installed by the contractor under which the purchaser accepts the installation work.
Riggers Liability usually functions as a liability coverage. This means that the rigger should be liable for the damage done to the machine and for the coverage that needs to be engaged legally. The Installation Floater is used where the policies only cover the installation work, instead of removing the entire machine for maintenance.
Keep in mind that neither of these policies actually cover the Loss of Use of the machine. The production work that your company will lose while the machine is unavailable due to any damage needs to be compensated under the insurance.
Make sure that the coverage limits of the Riggers Liability (RL) or Installation Floater (IF) is at least equal to the value of your equipment being rigged
Sometimes insurers cover very less costs in the Riggers Liability (RL) or the Installation Floater (IF). They even ask you to trust them on the basis of the high dollar amount on the General Liability (GL) insurance. You need to make sure that all numbers are individually consistent with the costs of your machine. Keep in mind that these values will only contain the depreciated value of your machine instead of the replacement costs.
If the value of your machine or piece of equipment exceeds their RL or IF coverage limit, ask for an endorsement amending their policy to the limit you need
Your rigger can always go back to its insurer to get support for the increased value of the coverage. Project-specific insurance might be limited to a narrow set of exposures that can be an individual rigging activity on a particular day. Both ways, if an approval is secured, you should expect the cost of this endorsement to get passed forward in the value of the contract.
Consult Your Insurer
Your insurer is in the business of giving you the protection that you need. This protection needs to include COI reviews and preventative consultations. It is the job of your insurer to ensure that all costs are covered to keep you protected under all possible circumstances.
Preventative methods such as this one are very fast and cost-effective when compared to having to deal with a claim that is under or not insured. Your insurer needs to understand the subtleties and ensure that your policy is efficient under all situations.