Dropped or damaged load in custody
While a client's machine is in the rigger's care during a lift, a drop or impact can destroy valuable equipment the contractor is responsible for.
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Rigging Contractor Insurance
The machine you position can be insured differently from the slings and jacks you own. Riggers' liability deserves its own discussion rather than assuming a larger general-liability limit protects the load.
The Southern Agency can help you protect your business during the high-stakes movement of client property.
Industry overview
Your work involves lifting and positioning heavy, high-value industrial equipment in tight spaces. A single miscalculated lift can result in the destruction of the client's machine and catastrophic property damage.
The Southern Agency can review your maximum load values, lifting methods and custody agreements to help you choose insurance. We can compare the actual riggers' liability or property terms for client machines with protection for your own gear and liability for damage to the surrounding plant.
Risks worth discussing
Crane and hoist lifting incidents
Tip-overs, sling failures, and miscommunication during heavy lifts can cause severe struck-by and crush injuries to crews and bystanders.
Damage to surrounding facility equipment
Maneuvering loads inside operating plants risks striking fixed machinery, walls, or systems and disrupting the client's operations.
Rigging gear and equipment failure
Slings, shackles, jacks, and hoists under heavy load can fail, leading to dropped loads and resulting damage or injury.
Worker injuries during lifts
Crews positioning, guiding, and securing heavy loads face crush, pinch, and strain injuries with high claim severity.
Ground and site condition failures
Soft ground or improper cribbing under a crane or jacking system can cause shifts and tip-overs during a lift.
Coverage worth discussing
Policies to ask about. Which ones fit depends on your operations, your contracts, and the carrier’s forms.
- General Liability InsuranceMay help with third-party injury or damage during heavy lift operations.
- Inland Marine InsuranceMay help protect the client's load while in your custody. Lifting coverage for client property is distinct from your own equipment.
- Workers Compensation InsuranceMay provide medical and wage benefits for crews exposed to crush or struck-by injuries.
- Business Auto InsuranceMay help with liability for vehicles used to move cranes and rigging gear between sites.
- Umbrella / Excess Liability InsuranceMay provide higher limits for underlying liabilities, though these do not typically increase client-load property coverage.
- Equipment Breakdown InsuranceMay help with qualifying internal failure if the actual crane or hoist and mobile use are accepted. Wear is a separate maintenance cost; damage to a dropped client load needs its own rigging or property terms rather than an assumption that machinery breakdown insures it.
Situations to think through
These hypothetical examples are not agency claim results. Whether a loss is covered depends on the facts, policy terms, and applicable exclusions.
Hypothetical: Dropped machine during a lift
A transformer slips from a sling and is damaged during a plant installation. Riggers liability coverage may respond to the client's property loss, depending on policy terms and the facts of the incident.
Hypothetical: Strike to facility piping
A load swings and strikes fixed piping inside an operating plant. General liability may respond to the third-party damage, subject to the specific policy, endorsements, and exclusions.
Hypothetical: Crane tip-over on soft ground
Inadequate cribbing lets a crane shift during a pick, injuring a worker. Workers' compensation may respond to the injury, depending on the specific policy and state rules.
Before you talk to an agent
Questions to raise
- Record the maximum value/weight of each client load and all stages from pickup through lift, skidding/jacking, temporary storage, and acceptance. Include any transport rather than assuming it is rigging cover.
- Review custody/processing terms and actual riggers liability or property wording separately from owned/hired crane/gear schedules and surrounding facility damage.
- Bring lift/ground/cribbing information, site interfaces, and operator/subcontractor responsibilities; those records support review but do not establish safe approval or accepted operations.
- Compare actual underlying/excess and client-load limits, deductibles, and any assumed replacement/production-delay obligations. A large liability limit does not automatically insure every load or plant interruption.
- Verify actual client insured parties, ongoing/completed endorsements, and waiver/indemnity terms. A certificate does not supply rights or override exclusions.
What the agent conversation looks like
Start with the work you do and the questions your current policies leave unanswered. Carrier options depend on your location, risk, and underwriting. Explore our approach.
- ListenReview your operations, current coverage, and past claims.
- AssessIdentify potential hazards and discuss ways to reduce risk.
- BuildDiscuss policy and carrier options, premium costs, and audits.
- SupportReview changes and help you plan ahead as your needs develop.
Questions owners ask
What is riggers liability and why does it matter?
It addresses a specific client-property/custody exposure, but check whether the actual arrangement is a liability endorsement or other property/rigging form and which operations it accepts. Maximum load value, pickup, lifting, jacking/skidding, storage, and transport need review; the label alone is not all-stage or all-risk cover.
Does general liability cover the load I'm lifting?
Do not assume it does. Custody and property-work exclusions can affect the load. Review the actual riggers endorsement/property arrangement and accepted handling stages separately from liability for damage to the surrounding facility.
Why do clients require high liability limits?
Clients may require large liability and load limits because a lift can injure people and damage several interests. Compare actual underlying/excess, riggers/load, and own-equipment terms separately; a contract limit or certificate does not establish accepted operations or cover every shutdown promise.
Is my rigging gear and crane covered?
Schedule owned/hired cranes, hoists, powered jacks, and gear by value/use. Review accidental external damage separately from eligible internal breakdown, wear, and maintenance. Client loads and plant income are not automatically included with the crane.
Are lifts inside operating plants riskier?
Operating plants add surrounding piping/equipment, access, and shutdown responsibilities. Separate damage to the load in custody from a strike to fixed plant and any lost-production demand; one incident need not receive the same response for every interest.
Talk through your rigging contractor coverage
Bring your questions, current policies, and relevant contracts. An agent can review coverage terms, exclusions, and the information carriers ask for, then explain the options available to you.