Everything you install is above somebody’s head.
Commercial insurance for rigging, grip and lighting companies — written around work at height, suspended loads and the completed operations tail that follows a truss long after the show has struck.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What rigging and grip businesses actually need.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage — the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — A dropped or failed rig injures people who were never your customer, in a venue full of them.
Workers compensation
Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.
Without it — Height, load and lifting are the severity classes of this trade rather than the strain injuries of most others.
Inland marine & equipment
Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.
Without it — Truss, motors, points and lighting are high value, constantly on the road and stored in venues you do not control.
Contractors errors & omissions
Covers faulty workmanship and professional mistakes — the cost of the work itself being wrong, which general liability excludes by design.
Without it — A rigging plot is engineering advice, and a plot that miscalculates a load is a professional failure rather than an accident.
Commercial auto
Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.
Without it — Trucks move heavy gear between venues on a schedule that does not forgive delay.
Umbrella & excess liability
Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.
Without it — Venue and production contracts specify limits above primary before you are allowed on site, and a failure above a crowd reaches them.
Third party property damage
Damage to property in your care while you are shooting on it — the location itself, and the fixtures in it. General liability excludes property in your care, custody and control, which is precisely what a location is.
Without it — The building you are rigging into is somebody else’s property and it is not covered by your general liability while you are working on it.
Stunts & pyrotechnics
Cover for productions running stunt work, vehicle action or pyrotechnics. The standard production policy carries a printed stunt and pyrotechnic exclusion, so this is not a limit that quietly sits there — the production has to be scheduled and underwritten before the exclusion comes off.
Without it — Performer flying and any rig carrying a person is a different underwriting conversation from carrying a lamp.
What rigging and grip operators ask us.
Why do so many carriers decline rigging?
Because it combines the two things underwriters like least: work at height, and a suspended load over an audience. The severity is obvious and the frequency is low, which is a profile the standard market prices badly and often simply refuses. It is placeable — this is the class we are asked about most in entertainment — but it goes to markets that understand the difference between a lighting hang and performer flying, and those are not reached through a general agency.
Does performer flying change the policy?
Completely. Once a rig carries a person it is treated as stunt work rather than as rigging, and the standard entertainment form carries a printed stunt exclusion. It has to be declared, scheduled and underwritten in advance, with the operator’s qualifications and the equipment inspection regime as part of the submission. Discovering this after a show has been announced is the expensive version.
What do venues and productions ask us for?
The full subcontract stack, and usually higher limits than a trade of this size expects: additional insured for ongoing and completed operations, primary and non-contributory wording, a waiver of subrogation, and an umbrella that frequently starts at five million on arena and touring work. Send the rider or the venue agreement when you bid it rather than when you load in.
How long does completed operations matter for a rig?
Longer than most people assume, and it is the reason completed operations wording is not optional here. A permanent installation — a venue grid, a retail display, an architectural hang — can fail years after you were paid and long after your crew has forgotten the job. The claim arrives against whoever installed it, and if the endorsement was not on the policy when the work was done it does not help.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.