Structural Steel and Steel Erection Insurance

We are not publishing a starting price for steelwork, because the ones quoted for this trade describe a sole trader on liability alone and almost no steel firm looks like that. A fabricator is insuring machinery, stock and the income lost while a replacement machine is on a six month lead time, an erector is being rated on height and load, and connection design brings professional indemnity with it. Those three price very differently, so ring 02382 000820 and we will quote the whole thing rather than give you a number that describes somebody else's business.

What moves the price is the same in every trade: turnover, how many people work under your direction, the work you take on, and your claims record. We are a broker, so we take it to several insurers rather than quoting one. Call 02382 000820 for a realistic figure.

Under a contract lift, the crane company generally takes responsibility for planning and supervising the lifting operation, subject to the terms of the contract. With a crane hired in under your control, you will typically be responsible for appointing the competent person, planning the lift and managing the lifting operation.

Firms sometimes believe they have bought a contract lift when the paperwork actually puts them into a crane hire arrangement, and that distinction may only become apparent once something has gone wrong. Check which arrangement you are signing up to before the crane arrives, because it can be one of the most significant liability questions on a steel erection job.

Responsibility for the lifting operation is not the same thing as insurance cover for the load itself. Those are separate questions, so check the wording for steel in your care, custody or control and for damage during erection.

The engineer designs the frame. The connections very often come back to the fabricator, and that is generally design work whatever the order calls it. So, usually, is deciding how a partially erected frame stays up before the permanent restraint goes in.

Public liability is generally there for injury and for damage to other people's property. The cost of the design itself being inadequate, of taking a frame down and of re engineering it, is not usually what it answers. That is what professional indemnity is for, so it is worth checking which of your policies is meant to pick that up rather than assuming one of them does.

A dropped load is the claim most likely to change how the market looks at a steelwork firm, and it is worth handling carefully rather than letting a loss run speak for you.

What underwriters want is the investigation outcome and what has changed: appointed person arrangements, lift plans, ground condition checks under outriggers, or a decision to move to contract lifts. Any of those is a concrete answer and they are treated as such.

If you are approaching a renewal with one on the record, ring 02382 000820 early. This is not a class where leaving it to the last fortnight works.