First, ensure that youâre doing everything to eliminate risks in roofing construction projects. Including hiring the right people to work for your company and implementing safety preventive measures. It is equally important to think about contingency plans and prepare when things donât turn out the way you want.
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Effective Ways to Eliminate Risks in Roofing Construction
Transfer The Risk
This is the best possible way not to let your business carry all the risks in roofing construction projects. Especially if you’re carrying on a commercial roofing project.
You can do this through contracts and insurance. Letâs elaborate on this issue. There are two main policies you will mostly need in a roofers insurance package and that every contractor should at least have. General liability and workersâ compensation.
Insurance for General Liability
If you or one of your team members accidentally causes damage to a customerâs roofing construction, you want to make it right for them or your business will be at stake. You want to make sure that you fix the mistake as quickly as possible.
It is never wise to let this one mistake ruin everything that youâve worked hard for. This happens when liability coverage is so important as it will cover for any third-party claims instead of you paying out of your own pocket.
The same is true with incidents caused by your operations that result in physical injury to someone on the Jobsite, whether a client or a random passerby. You want to be sure that you are covered in case of a lawsuit from the customer or whoever is injured for roofing construction.
It is always advised to obtain at least $1M coverage per occurrence with $2M aggregate and not any lower. Remember that this policy will cover several incidents from medical costs to lawsuits, and property damage just to save a business from a huge loss.
We all know that medical needs and physical injuries cost extremely expensive, therefore, the cost of this insurance policy outweighs the possible cost of not having it right when you need it.
Contractor Acquire General Liability Coverage
There are two ways to get general liability coverage for an independent contractor:
- You can obtain your own general liability policy. You can buy general liability insurance from a respectable insurance provider. To show a customer that you are covered, you should request a certificate of insurance from your provider. This method is usually more cost-effective for the clients.
- Your customers can add you to their general liability policy as an additional insured. This means their insurance covers you for the span of the job or longer. A business can add 1 or more contractors to its general liability policy depending on the clause as some providers have an unlimited Additional Insured clause.
Insurance Coverage for Your Employees
On the other side of things is potential injury to someone within your team. This can happen in the course of the job because of a mistake or it could happen as a result of negligence on the part of the homeowner.
No matter what the cause, any big or even small business would always want to make sure that your team is able to get the help needed to get back to their pre-injury condition. If the injury is caused on the job, your insurance may be responsible, especially if the injury was a result of a problem from the company.
Even if the injury was the fault of the customer, your worker’s compensation insurance may be responsible for part of the expenses. This occurs if the customer doesnât have enough insurance or doesnât have insurance to cover injuries that occur on their property.
At that point, the insurance that you have, which covers every member of your team while theyâre working, will step in to take care of the injury and any resulting expenses. But only if you have the right type of insurance and the right level of coverage.
Equip Your Team in and Out
A way to mitigate risks in roofing construction projects is to be prepared. Employees must wear their safety shoes, safety harness, headgear, etc.
Provide Proper Training
It is the companyâs main responsibility to ensure that all of its employees know how to use their tools and equipment properly. Employees must also undergo OSHA training and perform daily site safety review meetings at every job. All of these things and more can help to reduce the chances of injuries, accidents, or poor workmanship in roofing construction.
Last Word
All these may initially incur some cost, but the key is making sure that youâre not sacrificing the long term for the short term. Getting the high standard of training your staff need and the right roofing construction insurance is extremely important, but itâs also something that you may not have thought about until it was too late.
So, make sure youâre looking at the options and getting high-quality insurance that will keep you and your team safe.
