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Cover That Matches The Risk Of Hot Works
Welding is hot works, and hot works means fire risk, third-party injury, and property damage claims that can run into six figures from a single spark. Whether you work mobile, on client sites, or from your own workshop, the cover behind you needs to reflect the actual risk of the job.
Coverscope arranges insurance for welders and welding contractors across Australia, built around this risk profile.
What Can It Cover?
The most commonly included cover sections are as follows:
- Public Liability: Covers injury to a third party or damage to their property, such as a spark igniting nearby materials or a passer-by injured by flying debris.
- Products Liability: Covers claims from a defect in something you’ve welded or supplied, if it causes damage or injury after the job is complete.
- Tools and Equipment: Covers your welders, grinders, gas bottles and other equipment against loss, theft or damage.
- Workers Compensation: Compulsory once you employ staff, covering wages, medical costs and rehabilitation for injured employees.
- Commercial Motor: Covers utes, vans and trailers used to transport tools, equipment and crew between sites.
- Professional Indemnity: Relevant if you inspect, sign off or supervise welding work, rather than just performing it.
Which Trade Are You?
Welding overlaps closely with two other trades on this site, and the right cover depends on what you actually do:
Welders Quote
- General or mobile welding, hot works on client sites, no structural erection or pressure vessel work: you’re on the right page.
- Structural steel fabrication, workshop or on-site structural erection: see Steel Fabricators Insurance.
- Pressure vessels, tanks, boilers, mine-site or shutdown work: see Boilermakers Insurance.
If your work includes structural erection specifically, read the exclusion section below carefully, since this is one of the most commonly misunderstood exclusions in welding cover.
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Who Needs Welders Insurance?
Sole trader and subcontract welders doing mobile or on-site work, businesses with staff or apprentices, welders working on mine sites, shutdowns, or in confined spaces, and welders who inspect, sign off or supervise work separate from the physical welding itself.
A Critical Exclusion: Structural Erection
Structural erection work, such as erecting structural steel frames or beams as part of a building’s structure, is routinely excluded from standard welder and boilermaker public liability policies by default. If this is part of what you do, disclose it to your broker and confirm your policy is extended to cover it.
Who Needs Welders Insurance?
Hot works, welding, cutting and grinding, carry a fire risk that insurers underwrite carefully. Australian Standard AS 1674 sets out the required precautions. Compliance can directly affect your cover: in Ritchie v Advanced Plumbing and Drains Pty Ltd, a NSW court upheld an insurer’s hot work exclusion after required AS 1674 precautions weren’t followed, leaving the business without cover for the resulting claim.
Contract Terms You Might Be Asked For
Larger commercial contracts often require specific policy extensions. Principal’s Indemnity protects the site owner under your policy. Cross Liability lets each party claim as if separately insured. Waiver of Subrogation stops your insurer pursuing another party after paying a claim. If a contract asks for these by name, check with Coverscope before signing.
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Find The Right Cover
Complete the form to request a QUOTE. Call us at 1300 900 207 for an immediate response.
Cover Types Explained
Public Liability Insurance
Covers you if your work causes injury to a third party or damage to their property, such as a spark igniting nearby materials or a passer-by injured by flying debris. This is the cover most clients and site managers will ask to see evidence of before you start work.
Products Liability Insurance
Covers claims arising from a defect in something you’ve welded or supplied, if it causes damage or injury after the job is complete. Public and products liability are commonly packaged together, but policy wording can vary, so it’s worth checking exactly what’s included.
Tools and Equipment Insurance
Covers your welders, grinders, gas bottles and other equipment against loss, theft or damage. Most policies only respond to theft where there’s evidence of forced or violent entry.
Personal Accident and Income Protection
Covers loss of income if you’re unable to work due to injury or illness, particularly relevant for sole traders without access to employer-paid sick leave.
Commercial Motor Insurance
Covers utes, vans and trailers used to transport tools, equipment and crew between sites.
Professional Indemnity Insurance
Relevant if you inspect, sign off or supervise welding work, rather than just performing it. If your certification or advice leads to a project delay, defect, or financial loss for a client, this is a professional indemnity matter, separate from the physical welding work itself.
Marine Transit Insurance
Relevant if your tools and equipment are regularly transported by sea or between remote sites, covering goods in transit that standard tools and equipment cover may not extend to.
What Usually Isn’t Covered?
Exclusions, and the excess you need to pay, and limits of liability
can vary greatly depending on your insurer and the requirements of your business.
Most policies have a similar set of exclusions, examples include:
- The cost of rectifying faulty welding or workmanship
- Damage to your own tools or equipment under public liability (a separate tools and equipment policy applies instead)
- Claims by employees (this sits with workers compensation instead)
- Structural erection work, unless specifically declared and extended
- Theft without forced entry, unless specifically extended
Does my welders policy cover structural erection work?
Not automatically. Structural erection is routinely excluded from standard welder and boilermaker policies by default. If this is part of your work, disclose it to Coverscope and confirm your policy is extended to include it.
Does AS 1674 compliance actually affect my insurance?
It can. Insurers may charge higher premiums without a proper hot works system in place, and in some cases a claim may not be covered if required hot works precautions weren’t followed. Confirm your specific policy requirements with Coverscope.
Do I need professional indemnity as a welder?
Only if you inspect, sign off or supervise welding work, rather than performing the physical welding yourself.
What is Principal's Indemnity?
A policy extension that protects the principal contractor or site owner under your public liability cover, commonly required as a contract condition on larger jobs.
Get in Touch
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Our team continues to work remotely but you are welcome to arrange an appointment with one of our consultants.
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