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Inland Marine is often misunderstood due to the varieties of coverage that fall under the label of inland marine. Since the focus here is on construction and the exposures associated with contractors, lets stick to the hazards there within. This line of coverage is a must have for contractors who are always taking their work on the go.

Tools and Equipment: Inland marine insurance provides coverage for contractors by protecting their tools, equipment, and materials while they are in transit or temporarily off-site. This insurance can apply to not only the equipment owned by the insured, but also leased or rented. Inland marine is almost always required when leasing tools and equipment from an outside vendor. Unlike standard property insurance, which typically covers assets only at a fixed location, inland marine insurance is designed to safeguard items that are frequently moved or stored away from the primary business premises. This type of policy is crucial for contractors who rely on machinery and equipment (tractors to toolboxes) that can be vulnerable to damage, loss, or theft during transportation between job sites as well as when these items are on temporary job sites. IM covers equipment that is integral to a contractor’s work. Thus, ensuring that contractors are protected from financial loss and can maintain operational efficiency, regardless of where their projects take them.

How Inland Marine Got its Name

For the majority of history, the best way to transport goods was over sea. Ships hauled cargo way before goods were shipped by train or truck. Ocean marine insurance, the world’s oldest form of insurance, came about as a way to protect nautical vessels and the property they carry on board. But ocean marine insurance didn’t provide coverage once cargo was loaded off ships.

Inland marine coverage was designed to fill this gap. The policy has evolved over the years, and today you can get the protection of inland marine even if your goods go nowhere near the water. Today it covers cargo, work equipment, and other miscellaneous types of business property that travels between locations on land.

For fixed businesses that stay in one place, with no goods or cargo in transit, inland marine insurance is probably unnecessary. But for businesses that are on the go with their goods and services, protection against loss and theft of the materials is essential.

An excess liability insurance policy sits in the background until the underlying policy’s limits have been exhausted. The excess liability insurance policy will kick in once the underlying policy hits its coverage limits.

Excess liability insurance is a policy that increases the limits of another underlying policy. It’s most often used to add coverage for a GL policy. But it can also increase limits on other lines of coverage including commercial auto and employer’s liability (workers compensation). Think of excess insurance as a “second-in-line” policy, where a claim would be filed on the excess insurance policy only when the underlying liability insurance has hit and exceeded its maximum limit. An excess liability insurance policy sits in the background until the underlying policy’s limits have been exhausted. Once in play, the excess liability insurance policy will pay up to its policy limits. 

People often use the terms excess and umbrella coverage interchangeably. In no way are they the same thing. An umbrella policy, especially one issued by a different company than the one that issued the underlying coverages, might have different coverage terms, conditions, and exclusions. The excess policy, by design, should have the same coverage terms, conditions, and exclusions as the underlying policies. 

Excess policies are often referred to as follow form excess. Meaning they follow the underlying policy terms exactly. The excess policy just increases the available limits of insurance. 

Pollution Liability exposure for contractors arises more often than many business owners would like to believe. Most general liability policies will have an exclusion for what is know as a deleterious substance. Mold, fungi, asbestos, silica etc… fall under this category. That is why a contractor will want to have a pollution liability policy in place. Contractors pollution liability coverage provides protection for claims against contractors arising from pollution conditions resulting from the operations of the contractor.  This includes coverage for third-party bodily injury and property damage, defense costs, and cleanup. 

General contractors, heavy machinery operators, plumbers, landscapers, demo and HVAC contractors are a few trades where there is significant enough pollution exposure to warrant having a CPL policy in place. Inadvertently releasing pollutants into the air or into the earth are two significant exposures. But contractors working inside also face instances where a pollution policy should be in place. Think asbestos and mold. Claims involving those substances will generally be excluded from a GL policy so having a pollution policy in place will mitigate that exposure.