March 29, 2024

How are Mining Contractor insurance policies different to other contractor’s policies?

All businesses should hold insurance. Tradespeople particularly should keep their insurances up to date as the physical nature of much of their work represents higher risk than normal.  The fact that all your work involves working on or at a client’s property also means that their business interests are often in your hands and the consequences of something unforeseen or accidental happening are greater than other types of business.

Trades that work in or around the mining industry have an even greater set of risks and while an employee of a mine are insured for accidents and unforeseen events by their employers, the hundreds of thousands of contracted and subcontracted trades that work on the same sites are expected to carry their own insurance covers.

The mining industry is undeniably important to the Australian economy. 60% of our exports come from the extraction of our natural resources and the sector employs hundreds of thousands of people. The nature of the industry, however, means its risks are higher. For this reason a specific set of insurance products are made for mining contractors.

So how do these products differ from those that cover similar trades that don’t work in the mining industry?

One of the first distinctions your broker will have to ascertain is your business’s proximity to mining industry activity. Are you on site, near a site, occasionally visiting a site or working on plant and equipment off site?

As a mining contractor you will often have interactions with other contractors and mine workers on site. The extent of this also needs to be accurately reflected in your policies.

There are several risk factors that come into the calculations of policies surrounding the possibility of an accident on a mine site These include danger to you, your subcontractors (if you have any), their staff and any other third parties that could be exposed. There are also property losses, damages and perhaps the largest factor of all, downtimes.

Mining Contractors Insurance is the careful compilation of several policies specifically created to target risks faced by tradespeople within the mining sector. Every contractor business will have its own combinations of perils and exposure points depending on their role, making custom coverage essential for all different trade businesses.

As with any large industrial operation, there are also many more parts to the compliance equation. Mining Contractor Insurance also involves a larger amount of paperwork and compliance activity than industries with lower risks. As a result, keeping your insurance compliance documents up to date and in order is also a factor in being properly protected.

Getting the correct cover that directly assesses your risk exposure is essential for your businesses future, with competitive rates and the best support regarding compliance all year.

The types of insurance Mining Contractor Insurance will include (although not all will be needed by each business):

  • Public Liability
  • Professional Indemnity
  • Plant and Equipment
  • Workers Compensation
  • Business Insurance
  • Construction Insurance
  • Business Interruption
  • Management Liability
  • And more

At ARMA Insurance we work with many Mining Contractors and pride ourselves on “all year service”. This means we not only organise the correct policy collections for your business at competitive rates, but we make it our business to be in touch throughout the next year ensuring that all your paperwork is kept up to date and you are supported in your compliance requirements.

For an obligation free discussion about your cover, feel free to contact us here or call 02 4932 4444 and speak to one of our experts.