Grading and Paving Contractors Insurance – Watch Out For X,C and U

Grading, paving and excavation contractors insurance programs require a specialized approach to be sure that they are properly covered for the unique exposures that are present in their work. One often misunderstood area of their insurance that can lead them into trouble has to do with the XCU exclusion on the general liability policy. This is an area that needs to be reviewed and discussed at each renewal to make sure that you don’t lose or miss coverage that you need.

Let’s start by stating that the basic general liability policy that comes to you off the shelf so to speak will always start out with the XCU exclusion in place. So what is this exclusion? The X stands for explosion, the C for collapse and the U for underground. The general liability policy does not cover losses from digging, trenching etc that cause explosions, are caused by collapse, or do damage to underground property. With that in mind, grading, paving and excavating contractors need to pay careful attention to this exclusion.

So, if you are in the business of digging around underground, how do you protect yourself from this exclusion? The first line of defense should be your operations practices. You must know what is underground before you dig of course. And if you are doing any excavating, you obviously must take steps to protect yourself and others from a collapse hazard. But if this is your business, then accidents will happen so how do you obtain the insurance protection that you need? Well the answer is that you can buy back this coverage on an item by item basis. Or, if the exposure is very low, you may even pick it up for free. Landscapers insurance and irrigation system installers insurance programs are a good example of situations where the insurance company might throw this in at no charge. Of course this is also possible with graders, pavers and excavators insurance, depending on where and how they work and their past loss histories. But the point here is that you don’t have to change the entire exclusion form to increase your coverage. The way the exclusion form works is that the letters x, c, and u are shown at the top to designate which if any coverages are excluded. You can petition your insurance company to remove one or more of these exclusions from the policy and that gives you back coverage. But you need to stay on top of this and watch each renewal to make sure that the exclusion doesn’t rear its ugly head later on.

This points out the need for grading and paving contractors to only do business with agents and companies who specialize in insuring grading and paving firms. At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we do specialize in helping grading contractors and paving contractors with their insurance needs, be it workers compensation insurance, general liability insurance, or insurance for their trucks and commercial vehicles. If we can help you with and insurance second opinion, or if you would like to put our vast experience and expertise to work for you, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at our grader, paver and excavators insurance help page.

The source information for this article can be found at the original blog post at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.