Onsite Engineers: When Does a Blanket Workers’ Comp Waiver Apply?

Start with the recovery right the customer wants waived

In Travelers’ technology workers’ comp example, the waiver addresses the insurer’s recovery rights against a customer that may be partly responsible for an employee injury. That is different from asking to insure the customer. Read the endorsement to identify the parties and circumstances it addresses.

Hypothetical example: A SaaS company sends an implementation engineer to a customer’s premises. The customer requests a workers’ comp waiver because it could share responsibility for an employee injury. The preparation question is whether the insurance wording addresses that request—not merely whether the customer’s name appears on a certificate.

Sources: 5 Tips for Choosing Workers Compensation Insurance for Tech Companies

Read the actual blanket-waiver trigger

Travelers’ technology workers’ compensation page provides a product-specific example. It describes an endorsement available in most states that waives recovery against a customer to the extent required by a written contract signed before the loss. That description illustrates why the contract’s wording and timing matter; it does not establish the conditions of another insurer’s policy.

Use that example to frame questions about your own form rather than assuming that every blanket waiver operates the same way.

• Locate the waiver endorsement itself, including its form number, edition and effective date.
• Check whether the new customer qualifies under general wording or whether particular parties must be listed.
• Identify any written-contract requirement and the event before which the contract must be signed.
• Ask whether the endorsement is available and applicable in the state where the engineers will work.

Sources: 5 Tips for Choosing Workers Compensation Insurance for Tech Companies

Make a one-page contract-to-policy comparison

A short comparison worksheet is more useful than a yes/no procurement response. These are preparation questions, not conclusions about contract compliance. Separate the agreement’s legal interpretation from the insurance review.

• Parties: Identify the customer’s contracting entity and any requested affiliates. Compare those names with the parties described by the endorsement.
• Scope: Separate the workers’ comp waiver from requests concerning employers liability or other insurance lines. Ask which wording addresses each requirement.
• Work: Describe the engineers’ duties, locations and expected onsite period. Distinguish ordinary customer visits from an arrangement that leases or loans staff.
• Dates: Record contract execution, policy and endorsement dates, and the engagement period. Add a renewal checkpoint if the work crosses policy expiration.

Sources: 5 Tips for Choosing Workers Compensation Insurance for Tech Companies · What Is Contractual Risk Transfer?

Use the certificate to reflect the underlying insurance

New York example: In an opinion issued May 30, 2008 addressing cancellation-notice requests on commercial-risk insurance certificates, the state’s insurance regulator explained that a certificate summarizes policy terms and cannot confer additional policy rights. This is a scoped New York regulatory example, not a nationwide legal determination or proof that a particular workers’ comp waiver applies.

Preparation takeaway: review the endorsement and its relationship to the contract before asking that the certificate reflect the waiver. If the endorsement is missing or unclear, a certificate checkbox is not an adequate explanation of what the insurer has agreed to waive.

Sources: OGC Opinion No. 08-05-13: Certificates of Insurance

Do not confuse a waiver with coverage for the customer

Travelers separately describes alternate-employer coverage for employees leased or loaned to a customer onsite. Its example applies workers’ comp and employers liability coverage for injuries to those workers as though the customer were insured. That is a distinct feature of that product.

The practical distinction is important: a request to waive recovery and a request to insure the customer are different questions. By itself, the waiver does not confirm customer insured status, defense-cost coverage or insurance for every obligation in an indemnity clause. Ask what the customer intends and what the actual policy provides.

Sources: 5 Tips for Choosing Workers Compensation Insurance for Tech Companies · What Is Contractual Risk Transfer?

Resolve open questions before scheduling onsite work

Keep a record connecting each customer requirement to the wording reviewed and any unresolved difference. Revisit that comparison if the customer adds an affiliate, the staffing arrangement changes or the policy renews during the engagement. Do not substitute a familiar certificate process for checking a changed requirement.

For a workers’ comp quote request to Atlas Risk Partners, summarize the onsite duties, work states and whether the customer requests a blanket or specifically named waiver. Ask which proposed endorsement could address the request and what remains outside its scope.

Availability varies by carrier, state and risk. This is general education; it does not bind insurance or establish coverage. Policy wording controls.

Sources: 5 Tips for Choosing Workers Compensation Insurance for Tech Companies · OGC Opinion No. 08-05-13: Certificates of Insurance