Grading & Excavation Contractor Business Insurance

General Liability

A standard insurance policy issued to businesses to protect them against liability claims for bodily injury and property damage from out of premises, operations, products, and completed operations.

Example: Your excavation company is hired dig a trench near a road in order to create a run off area. While digging, your excavator damages the roadway which now needs to be repaired. A general liability policy would cover the cost of the repairs to the roadway.

Automobile Liability

Insurance that protects the insured against financial loss because of legal liability for automobile-related injuries to others or damage to their property by an automobile.

Example: While driving to a work site, one of your employees is involved in an accident while driving one of your work trucks. The employee was at fault as the drove through a red light and side swiped another vehicle. Your commercial auto policy will cover the cost of the accident.

Property

An insurance policy for businesses that insures against damage to their buildings and contents due to a covered cause of loss, such as a fire. The policy may also cover loss of income or increase in expenses that result from property damage.

Example: A storage facility where you store your site preparation equipment is severely damaged in a fire. In addition to the building sustaining damage, some of your equipment inside has been damaged as well. In this scenario, your property coverage would cover both the building and the damaged equipment stored inside.

Inland Marine

Insurance policy that covers the loss or damage to any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the point of origin and the final destination.

Example: A generator and several laptop computers you were using and storing overnight are stolen from a job site your business is working on. Your inland marine policy would help to cover the loss of the equipment due to theft.

Umbrella Liability/Excess Liability

Umbrella liability insurance covers claims in excess of regular business and auto policy coverage with the main purpose of protecting assets from an unforeseen event, such as a tragic accident in which the business is liable.

Example: While excavating a work site, you hit a sewer main you failed to identify. As a result, the sewage has contaminated the surrounding job site area. The cost to repair the sewer main, as well as the clean up effort exceed the policy limits of your general liability policy. An umbrella policy will cover the costs that exceed your general liability limits.

Crime

A commercial crime insurance policy typically provides several different types of crime coverage including employee dishonesty coverage, forgery or alteration coverage, computer fraud coverage, funds transfer fraud coverage, kidnap, ransom, or extortion coverage.

Example: It is discovered that one of your employees in charge of managing payroll has been transferring funds from your business accounts to an outside account. Crime coverage would help to restore the loss of funds that have been sustained.

Contractors Pollution Liability

Contractor-based insurance policy, offered on a claims-made or occurrence basis, that provides third-party coverage for bodily injury, property damage, defense, cleanup, and related defense costs as a result of pollution conditions arising from contracting operations performed by or on behalf of the contractor.

Example: Your company is hired to clear and grade an undeveloped work site. During the site preparation, your employees improperly install a silt fence causing runoff issues into an adjacent properly after severe heavy rains. The resulting clean up costs would be covered by your contractors pollution liability policy.

Employment Practices Liability

Employment practices liability insurance protects employees against resulting litigation, including claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination.

Example: One of your employees is terminated on the grounds of their poor work performance. The disgruntled employee files a lawsuit against your company claiming wrongful termination. In this scenario, an employment practices liability policy would cover the legal costs incurred during the resulting litigation.

Cyber Liability

Cyber liability covers exposures when communicating or conducting business online. Potential liabilities include the internet and email. Online communication tools could result in claims alleging breaches of privacy rights, infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property, employment discrimination, violations of obscenity laws, the spreading of computer viruses, and defamation.

Example: Your online network falls victim to a cyber attack, including all of your client contact records and payroll. Your business is now being extorted to pay money in order to release the data. A cyber liability policy would cover lost income due to business interruption, extortion, data loss, and more.

Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation provides no-fault statutory benefits prescribed in state law by an employer to an employee (or the employee’s family) due to a job-related injury (including death) resulting from an accident or occupational disease.

Example: During an excavation project, the trench your employees are digging collapses and causes injury to one of your employees. A workers’ compensation policy will cover the cost incurred due to the employee’s injuries while on the job.