Scaffolding insurance that covers the height — nationwide.

Scaffolding concentrates the exposures standard carriers most want to avoid: constant work at height, workers falling, and tools or components falling onto people below — and scaffold collapse can injure multiple people at once, producing catastrophic claims that blow through primary limits. These are low-frequency, high-severity bodily-injury risks, so much of the market is written through specialty and Excess & Surplus (E&S) carriers rather than admitted insurers. On top of that, an injured worker barred from suing their own employer by workers’ comp sues the general contractor instead, who then “actions over” against the scaffold sub — pulling the sub’s policy into the claim. The result is restricted capacity and form language that has to be read carefully before you bind.

A height or elevation exclusion bars coverage for bodily injury or property damage arising out of work performed above a stated height — commonly above two stories or about 15 feet, and sometimes written so broadly that it applies to any project exceeding that height whether or not you were working above it. Some forms also exclude scaffold or staging erection outright. For a scaffolding contractor, a policy with one of these exclusions can be worthless for its core operation: the claim happens at height, and that’s exactly what the exclusion removes. The fix is to identify these endorsements before binding and have them removed, bought back, or negotiated. Carriers with genuine scaffold expertise typically offer fewer of these problematic exclusions than generalist commercial insurers.

A typical subcontract requires the scaffold sub to add the general contractor and owner as additional insureds — for ongoing operations using ISO form CG 20 10 and for completed operations using CG 20 37, because the ongoing-operations form generally stops covering them once your work is finished. GCs also require a waiver of subrogation and primary & non-contributory wording, so your policy pays first and your insurer won’t pursue the GC after a claim. Increasingly they want the actual endorsement copies attached to the certificate, not just a checkbox. We build the certificate and endorsements to match the subcontract so you clear prequalification the first time.

It depends on the projects you pursue. Many construction contracts now require total limits of $5 million, $10 million, or more before a scaffold subcontractor can mobilize, with the requirement scaling up on larger or higher-profile projects. Umbrella or excess coverage sits above your general liability — and often your auto and employer’s liability — so a single catastrophic fall or collapse doesn’t exhaust your primary limits and reach your balance sheet. High excess limits also signal financial responsibility in prequalification. We confirm the limits your general contractors actually require and build the tower to match, rather than guessing high or low.

New York Labor Law §240, the “Scaffold Law,” is the single biggest reason elevated-work risk in New York is so hard and expensive to place. As interpreted by New York courts, it imposes absolute (strict) liability on owners and general contractors for gravity-related injuries — falls from height or being struck by inadequately secured falling objects — and the worker’s own negligence generally does not reduce recovery. No other state has this standard. Because owners and GCs are automatically liable, they push that exposure down to the scaffold sub through indemnity and additional-insured requirements and demand very high excess limits. That severity drives New York scaffold premiums far above other states. See Labor Law §240 and §241.

When a scaffold worker is injured, workers’ compensation usually bars them from suing their own employer — the scaffold subcontractor — directly. So the injured worker sues the general contractor or owner instead. The GC, facing that liability (and in New York, strict liability under the Scaffold Law), then turns around and sues the scaffold sub for contractual indemnity and as an additional insured. That second suit is the “action over,” and it lands on the scaffold sub’s general liability policy as a bodily-injury-to-an-employee claim — which many GL forms try to exclude with an “Action Over” exclusion. Preserving coverage for this is essential, because it is precisely the indemnity the general contractor is relying on you to carry.

Usually, yes. Your general liability policy excludes damage to property in your own care, custody, or control, and it does not cover your physical inventory of frames, planks, tubes, couplers, and swing-stage gear. That equipment is typically a large owned and rented inventory that moves between jobsites, sits unattended on site, and travels in your trucks — so it’s covered under an inland-marine contractors-equipment policy against damage and theft on the job, in transit, and in storage. Rented, leased, or borrowed equipment you’re contractually responsible for often has to be specifically scheduled. When you’re hoisting or rigging others’ property, riggers liability and an installation floater fill the care-custody-control gap that GL leaves open.

Yes. Scaffold Insurance Pros is the national scaffolding practice of Thrive Risk Management Insurance Solutions, a licensed insurance brokerage (CA License #6012320). We place coverage nationally through our appointed specialty and wholesale partners, so we can structure a program around your state’s scaffold liability regime, licensing, and the certificate requirements your general contractors demand wherever you build. Start with your state page or request a quote and we’ll confirm we can write your market before you spend time on paperwork.