Certificates of insurance have become so commonplace in the construction business that some people seem to think they mean more than they do.
Essentially, a certificate serves a single purpose: To identify, for informational purposes only, the insured party's current insurance coverages, the company that provides each coverage, the amount of the coverage, and the effective dates of the policies.
However, the ever-expanding insurance requirements placed on contractors and subcontractors by jobsite owners and general contractors are weighing down these certificates with requests for modifications and added/deleted language. Such focus on this simple form often creates the impression that a single informational piece of paper has somehow attained the status of the insurance policy itself. A certificate with all the verbiage required can lead to a misplaced sense of security. Unless the actual polices reflect the specifications required of the insured party, there might be critical gaps in coverage after a loss.
For example, just identifying a party as an "additional insured" on a certificate means nothing unless the actual policy contains the necessary "additional insured" endorsement. The same holds true of any other specification on who or what the policy covers.
Do the certificates of insurance that you've requested from others truly reflect the required coverage changes? Or are they just words that someone typed to make it look as if something actually happened that didn't? What about the certificates you've issued to others? Do they describe your coverages accurately?
Let our Construction insurance staff review your certificates of insurance (both incoming and outgoing) for accuracy.