Everything you install is above somebody’s head.Founded by an Emmy-nominated television editor.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is 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, and the claim names whoever built it.

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, and the climbing share of your payroll is rated on its own.

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, decks, roofs and points 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 or a load calculation 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, meaning 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 a beam clamp that marks a historic ceiling is a claim.

Stunts & pyrotechnics

Coverage 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.

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, a profile the standard market prices badly and often simply refuses. It is placeable, and it 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.

Does it matter whether the rig is flown or ground-supported?

Yes, and the application asks. Flown rigging hangs from the building’s structure on motors and points, so the questions are the building’s capacity, the load calculation and hoist inspection. Ground-supported systems, towers and outdoor roofs carry their own load, so the questions become ballast, guying and wind. Outdoor ground-supported roofs are where the catastrophic losses in this class have come from, and ANSI E1.21 exists for them.

Why does the underwriter ask whether an engineer signed off?

Because a stamped design and a load calculation turn a judgment call into a documented one. The rental house application asks it directly for staging installations. With a sign-off, a failure becomes a question of whether the plan was followed. Without one, it becomes a question of whether anyone made a plan, which is a far worse place to defend a claim from and a reason some markets decline outdoor staging outright.

Does ETCP certification lower my insurance cost?

We will not promise a discount, but it moves the conversation. The application asks what share of your staging and rigging work has an ETCP-certified technician present and what share they supervise, so an underwriter is pricing supervision, not the certificate on the wall. A crew where a certified arena or theater rigger runs every call reads very differently from one where certification is occasional.

Who is liable if rented truss collapses?

Whoever caused it, and then whoever agreed to pay for it. A manufacturer answers for design, the rental company for maintenance and inspection, the installer for assembly and the load calculation, and the producer or venue for the weather call. The rental agreement then shifts the cost, usually onto the renter through a hold harmless. That promise is only as good as the renter’s insurance, which is why your own completed operations coverage still matters.

What the rental agreement should require

We supply the staging and the producer’s crew builds it. Does that change anything?

It changes which policy you need. If the gear leaves without your people, you are a dry hire rental company and the exposure is your equipment plus products liability for what you supplied. If your crew installs, operates or supervises, you are a contractor on site with workers comp, height and completed operations exposure. Many companies do both, and the application asks for the percentage of each, so be honest about the split.

How dry hire rental companies are insured

What do venues and producers ask a staging or rigging company for?

Commonly $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate general liability, additional insured for ongoing and completed operations, primary and non-contributory wording, a waiver of subrogation, workers comp with $1M employers liability, auto liability, and an umbrella that often starts at $5M for hotels, arenas and touring work. Send the rider or venue agreement when you bid, not when you load in.

A venue wants a $5M umbrella and additional insured status for our load-in. Can we get that for one event?

Usually it is cheaper to carry it annually, because a one-off umbrella still needs the underlying policy and a market willing to write the class. Entertainment program markets build excess towers well above that, one lists up to $25M. Before buying anything, read the requirement itself. We have seen a hotel’s own $50M certificate forwarded as though it were the vendor requirement, when the real ask was the standard program.

How should truss, motors and decks be insured?

On an inland marine equipment floater that follows the gear in transit, at the venue and in storage, scheduled item by item for the expensive pieces with a blanket limit for the rest. Insure at replacement cost. Add a limit for equipment you rent in from another house, because the rental agreement almost certainly makes you responsible for it, and declare any international work in advance.

Do I need workers comp for freelance stagehands?

Usually yes. A stagehand you schedule, direct and pay by the call is your employee in most states whatever the tax form says, and California presumes it. If a freelancer runs their own company with their own comp policy, collect the certificate every time. If they cannot produce one, expect the audit to add what you paid them to your payroll, in the climbing class if that is the work they did.

Workers comp and 1099 contractors

Does performer flying change the policy?

Completely. Once a rig carries a person it is treated as stunt work rather than rigging, and ANSI E1.6-1 itself excludes systems for flying people. The standard entertainment form carries a stunt exclusion, so it has to be declared and underwritten in advance, with the operator’s qualifications and the inspection regime in the submission. Discovering this after a show has been announced is the expensive version.

How the stunt exclusion comes off

How long does completed operations matter for a rig?

Longer than most people assume. A permanent installation, such as a venue grid, a retail display or 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 completed operations coverage was not on the policy when the work was done it does not help.

What should I have ready before I apply?

Three years of revenue split between rental, sales and installation, your climbing payroll and the maximum height you work at, a description of your stages and roofs and how they are ballasted, who signs off the engineering, how many calls an ETCP-certified rigger supervises, your subcontractor certificates and hold harmless terms, your rental agreement, the safety and maintenance programs, and five years of loss runs. The application asks for all of it.

What does a staging and rigging insurance application ask for?

The applications for staging and rigging businesses ask about 4 things above all: what does your company do; what's the largest production budget you handle for any single project; what steps do you take to prevent problems or claims; has your company changed its name, acquired another business, or merged with another company in the past five years. Have your last three years of claims history from your current or past insurance company, called loss runs and a copy of your title and trademark report reviewed by a qualified attorney ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.