Plant, Tools & Contractors All Risks for Scaffolders

Why material cover needs attention

A modest scaffolding firm can have more than £100,000 of tube, boards, couplers and system components in use at any time, spread between a yard, several vehicles and a number of live sites. It is portable and has resale and scrap value. Storm damage, damage in transit and vehicle accidents add to the losses.

None of this is covered by public liability. It needs its own sections of the policy, each with its own sum insured, excess and conditions.

The sections

Own plant and equipment

Covers scaffolding material and equipment you own against theft, accidental damage, fire, storm and flood, whether in the yard, on a vehicle, on site or erected. The sum insured should be the current replacement cost of the whole stock. If it is set too low the insurer can apply average, reducing every claim in the same proportion as the under-insurance. Keep a stock schedule and update it when you buy.

Hired-in plant

When you hire scaffolding material, a hoist or a telehandler, the hire company’s terms will normally make you responsible for loss or damage from collection until return, and for continuing hire charges while a replacement is sourced. Hired-in plant cover responds to both. It is inexpensive and the limit should reflect the most you would have on hire at one time.

Tools

Hand and power tools, including the specialist scaffolding tools the gang carries, and roofing kit for firms that do both trades. Tools are usually a separate section with an any-one-loss limit, often applied per vehicle, and an overnight vehicle condition.

Contract works, or contractors all risks (CAR)

Covers the work in progress. For a scaffolder that is the erected scaffold during the contract: if a storm brings down a sheeted scaffold, contract works cover pays to re-erect it, while public liability deals with the damage it caused to other people’s property. Whether you need your own contract works cover depends on the contract. Under some main contractor arrangements the principal’s policy covers subcontractors’ work, but temporary works such as scaffolding are often outside it. Ask the main contractor, and ask your broker to confirm the position in writing.

Goods in transit

Material on the vehicle between yard and site. It is often included within own plant cover; if not, a goods in transit section is needed. Conditions about securing the load usually apply.

Commercial vehicles

Vehicles need commercial motor insurance, which is separate. Make sure the policy covers carriage of your own goods and, if you deliver hired material to clients, carriage for hire or reward.

Conditions and warranties

Material sections usually carry several conditions and warranties. Since the Insurance Act 2015, an insurer cannot rely on a breach of a condition that could not have increased the risk of the loss that actually happened, and a breached warranty suspends cover only until the breach is put right. That helps, but a security condition is almost always relevant to a theft, so in practice these conditions still decide most material claims.

Overnight vehicle security

Tools and material left in or on a vehicle overnight are typically covered only where the vehicle is locked and alarmed, or parked in a locked building or secure compound, and some wordings exclude overnight theft from vehicles altogether. Theft from an unattended vehicle generally requires evidence of forcible entry. Check the wording and brief drivers on it.

Yard security

Fenced, locked, lit and, for larger stocks, alarmed or monitored. The insurer will ask how the yard is secured and may survey it.

Material left on site

Many policies exclude theft of loose, unfixed material from an unattended site unless it is in a locked compound or container. Erected material is usually covered. On occupied or high street sites, scaffold alarms and lighting may be required as a condition.

Sheeting and storm

Sheeted, netted or shrink-wrapped scaffolds carry heavy wind loads. Insurers may require that temporary roofs and sheeted scaffolds are built to a TG20:21 compliant configuration or a bespoke design, that the tie pattern is increased accordingly, and that sheeting is removed or properly secured when severe weather is forecast. The Storm Henk and Storm Bert footage on this site shows two sheeted scaffolds brought down by wind.

Proof of ownership

After a theft the insurer will ask for a stock list, purchase invoices and, where possible, evidence that the material was marked. The claim will be settled on what can be evidenced. Colour-banding or stamping tube and photographing the yard periodically makes a claim much easier to settle and also helps the police identify recovered material.

Setting the sums insured

• Own plant: the full replacement cost of all material and equipment, on whichever basis (new for old or indemnity) the policy uses.
• Hired-in plant: the maximum value on hire at any one time, plus an allowance for continuing hire charges.
• Tools: the value of the kit normally carried on each vehicle, as the any-one-loss limit.
• Contract works: the value of the largest scaffold you erect, including labour to re-erect it.

How these sections fit with the rest

Scaffolding insurance is usually bought as a package of public liability, employers’ liability and the material sections above, with legal expenses and personal accident as options. Buying them together is generally cheaper and avoids gaps between insurers. The cost guide covers how security and claims history affect the price of the material sections, and the scaffolding insurance overview shows how the whole package fits together.

Plant and tools cover FAQs