General Liability Insurance for Heavy Equipment
Getting general liability insurance is very crucial for construction firms, mining companies, earthmovers, and other businesses relying on heavy equipment to operate. This insurance will account for the costs of personal injury claims or property damage third parties file. By the way, many carriers commonly offer general liability as a primary inclusion in heavy construction equipment insurance policies.
Studies exploring heavy equipment and pedestrian safety are few. Nonetheless, it’s a known fact that heavy machinery causes third-party accidents. A survey conducted by the US Department of Transport Federal Highway from 1997 – 2000 states that 17% of fatalities in workplace accidents are pedestrians. The most common heavy equipment-related pedestrian accidents are:
- Rollover/runovers
- Vehicular collisions
- Getting struck
Most of the time, these accidents result in injuries that can severely affect the victim’s quality of life and require costly treatment. The table below shows the injuries and their estimated settlement cost, which is very costly without construction equipment insurance policy and other related coverages.
| Type of Injury | Settlement Cost |
|---|---|
| Head and Neck | $85,000 |
| Spinal Cord Injury | $313,567 |
| Broken Bones | $13,452 |
| Concussion | $800.10 |
| Burns | $208,231 |
| Cuts and Lacerations | $5,423 |
| Amputation | $89,563 |
| Death | $1,000,000 |
Commercial Auto Insurance for Heavy Equipment
Backhoes and dozers are the most common heavy equipment involved in road accidents. Injuries these machines cause are fractures, head injuries, amputations, cuts, lacerations, and deaths. The table below shows the importance of earthmoving insurance with commercial auto coverage by outlining the cost of settlement according to the severity of injuries.
| Severity of Injury | Person-Injury or Per-Vehicle Cost |
|---|---|
| Death | $1,567,833 |
| Disabling | $83,023 |
| Evident | $21,445 |
| Possible | $21,321 |
| Cost per vehicle damage | $3,213 |
Earthmoving equipment insurance offers commercial auto insurance coverage. Commercial auto insurance is useful because the law treats bulldozers, backhoes, skid steers, and other heavy equipment as commercial vehicles the moment they traverse public highways. This insurance policy provides the following protection to the policyholder while dump trucks, dozers, tractors, and other heavy machinery are running on highways:
| Coverage | Function |
|---|---|
Auto Liability Coverage | Heavy machinery such as backhoes and dozers are hard to control. These can potentially cause road accidents and leave third parties injured or properties damaged. Commercial auto insurance has auto liability coverage that will pay for the medical expenses of third parties and will reimburse the value of damaged property |
 Physical Damage Coverage | Though built to be damage resistant, backhoes, dozers, dump trucks, tractor-trailers, and other heavy machinery will incur dents and other types of damage. This is why commercial auto insurance for heavy equipment includes physical damage coverage. Physical damage coverage has two forms – collision and comprehensive. Collision physical damage coverage covers parts repair or replacement if backhoes and other types of heavy equipment incurred damage due to a collision. On the other hand, comprehensive physical damage coverage will cover parts repair or replacement if fire, lightning, hail, wind, storm, vandalism, and other covered perils damaged heavy equipment |
 Emergency Roadside Assistance | While running on the highway, dump trucks, dozers, and backhoes might experience issues and stall. Of course, they have to reach the project site or else, they’ll miss important tasks. Commercial auto insurance includes emergency roadside assistance coverage that reimburses the expenses for tire repair, tire delivery and replacement, gas delivery, battery jump start service, and more |
 MedPay/Personal Injury Protection | Operators might get injured when the heavy equipment they’re driving causes an accident or gets involved in an accident. MedPay and personal injury protection are inclusions in commercial auto insurance that takes care of the operator’s medical expenses. Note that, unlike personal injury protection, MedPay covers lost income compensation |
Workers Compensation Insurance for Heavy Equipment Operators and Technicians
Workers’ compensation insurance is a common inclusion in heavy construction equipment insurance, which covers backhoes, dump trucks, bulldozers, compactors, pavers, tower cranes, excavators, and graders. Heavy equipment might injure operators and technicians and workers’ compensation insurance will help with this. The coverages of workers’ compensation insurance are as follows:
Equipment Breakdown Insurance for Heavy Equipment
Physical damage coverage in commercial auto insurance doesn’t apply if a dump truck, bulldozer or any other heavy equipment incurred damage on its own due to frequent use. For this reason, insurance companies also include equipment breakdown insurance. Equipment breakdown insurance covers parts repair or replacement if a heavy equipment incurs damage because of use.
Equipment breakdown insurance isn’t only coverage for valuable business assets such as heavy equipment. This also works as insurance for cheap equipment such as drills, electric saws, and other related objects. When it covers cheap items, equipment breakdown insurance can provide a replacement piece or unit if the scheduled equipment is less than three years old.
