Category Archives: Line of Insurance

Construction Practice Group Content, General Liability Insurance

P.O. Responsible For Worker Injured Near Work Site

A cement truck driver fell and injured himself while climbing down from his truck after checking the cement to be delivered at the construction site. Although the man was one hundred feet away form the site, he was protected by the Labor Law. Ordinarily, the Labor Law does not protect workers from incidents that happen outside the construction site. However, the driver had been directed by the construction site to wait outside the entrance in a line of trucks, extending the construction site’s liability and putting the cement truck driver under the protection of the Labor Law.

 

The NY Labor is very specific, and quite ownerous to both New York property owners, NY Developers, and NY General Contracting firms. We specifically reference NY because it’s only in NY where this onerous responsibility occurs. I won’t get into the specifics of the Labor Law.

This case was critical for a myriad of reasons. There are a lot of construction projects in New York City that are insured under a project-specific general liability insurance policy OR are covered under a Wrap Insurance Program, (Owners Contractors Insurance Program) where there is a clear demarkation line geographically where coverage ceases and begins unlike a “Practice Policy” which insures the general contractor wherever he is working and is not specific to a project. An appellate division victory affirming the right of an employee of a “vendor” which typically does not have the same stringent coverage obligations as will your sub contractors pose a difficult task to insure risk transfer away from the NY Developer, NY General Contracting Firm, or NY Project owner.

Some Risk Management Tips To Mitigate This New Exposure:

 

  • Broaden the language in your contracts that impose defense and indemnification for both sub contractors & vendors/suppliers.

Include language defense & indemnity language within your purchase orders that you may lean on if this type of event happens on your project.

Broaden the language or defintions within the NY Project Specific Liability Policy that widens the coverage zone. (This is a frequent mistake by the NY Insurance Brokerage Community in that they take the geographic limitation of 50 feet the carrier intially offers and fail to negotiate a larger coverage zone).

Buy your supplies from reputable suppliers who have strong safety track records and a strong insurance program such as Casa Building Supplies . (Pardon this unabashed plug: under full disclosure, Jack Dragone is a good personal friend of mine, and I like his  employer.)

To find out other startegic ways to  reduce the high cost of insurance claims  to your New York Construction business or information about New York General Liability Insurance and New York Workers Comp Insurance, speak to a Risk Advisor @  Metropolitan Risk Advisory . If you want to buy brick, call Jack (718) 842-8650. Tell him Mike Stoop told you to call.  

Workers Compensation Insurance

“Many Business Owners Unaware of the Personal Liability Exposure Relating to Workers Compensation Insurance”

“Many Business Owners Unaware of the Personal Liability Exposure Relating to Workers Compensation Insurance”

If you have employees who work on or near “navigable waters” as defined by the Long Shoreman’s Act, failure to secure the proper Longshoreman’s Coverage  under your NY or NJ Workers Compensation Insurance policy can leave the business owners personal liable , piercing the corporate veil should there workers become injured on or near navigable waters. A example would be a plumber who boards a vessel or a dock, and repairs a bathroom fixture. Should they become injured, even though it’s a one off scenario, that plumbing or electrical operation can be denied Workman’s Compensation Insurance due to the location of the injury. The resulting damages can and will pierce the corporate veil, making the business owners personal liable. 

The Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act (the Longshore Act or LHWCA) provides a no-fault compensation remedy, in lieu of the common law remedy of damages, to employees other than members of the crew of a vessel who are injured or suffer an occupational disease while engaged in maritime employment on navigable waters. The Act applies to any person engaged in maritime employment, including any longshoreman or other person engaged in long shoring operations. It also applies to any harbor worker, including a ship repairman, shipbuilder, or shipbreaker, whose employer is engaged in maritime activity, in whole or in part, upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or adjoining area customarily used by such employer in loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building a vessel).

It is critical that company executives assure that any potential exposure under the Act is insured (or self-insured) since the penalties that may be assessed against them are onerous. When an employer fails to secure coverage and a claim arises, the employer will be subject to a fine up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to 1 year, or both. Furthermore, when the employer is a corporation, the officers of the corporation are each subject to this fine and/or imprisonment in addition to any fine levied against the corporation itself. These officers are also personally liable, jointly and severally, with the corporation for any compensation or benefit that any accrue under the Act to an employee for a covered injury. The fact that no exposure under the Act was anticipated is not an excuse for the failure to secure compensation under the Act.

If you have employees that occasionally work on , or near “navigable waters” such as ships, pier, wharfs , dry dock,terminal, building way, marine railway, or adjoining area customarily used by such employer in loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building a vessel please check with your insurance broker or RISK ADVISOR on the applicability of this law , a potential employee and your liability. We suggest purchasing or adding an endorsement to the policy that will contemplate such an event.

 

Commercial Property, Construction Practice Group Content

Builders Risk Policies Do Not End at the Expiration Date

Very few purchasers of Builder’s Risk insurance are aware that coverage ceases in two ways and not just at policy expiration.   At expiration as everyone is aware , coverage  also ceases  when a project, recently completed is awarded it’s Certificate of
Occupancy by the municipality it is located in. Rather than write the article again here, I just thought I would provide the link.

 

Do You Know When Your Builders Risk Policy Expires??

 

Hopefully you are reading this prior to your loss!