Should trucking businesses purchase workers compensation and occupational accident insurance policies? Let’s learn more below.
It’s not merely enough to just protect your trucks these days. You must establish a productive and safe work environment for your truck drivers. This includes the time they spend on the road and inside your warehouse.
The problem is, no matter how much you instill safety into your culture, accidents still happen. Unfortunately, injuries and accidents negatively affect productivity and profits.
So, to protect your trucking business and your drivers, you’ll need workers compensation and occupational accident insurance. This way you can better combat liability risks and legal battles. In this article, we’ll explain the difference between the two coverages and the benefits of both. Let’s begin.
Workers Compensation
Workers compensation provides your drivers with payment if they’re injured on the job and can’t work for some time. For example, say one of your drivers twists their ankle while loading their trailer and has to stay off their feet for the next few weeks. This insurance would cover their lost wages during that time as well as any medical bills.
In most states, this coverage is required by law if you have more than three employees. Texas is the only state that doesn’t require workers compensation. This coverage option tends to be more expensive than occupational accident insurance. Fortunately, most trucking companies realize the importance of protecting their business and their drivers.
As you can imagine, it’s not cheap fighting a legal battle with an injured employee you were responsible for!
Occupation Accident Insurance
Occupational accident insurance provides a certain amount of coverage to contract drivers. Technically, the law states that companies aren’t obligated into paying for the disability, dismemberment, or death of their independent contractors. This is because independent contractors aren’t technically regular employees and thus, aren’t entitled to company benefits.
Yet, there are numerous cases where a contract driver gets injured on the job and feels the company is legally responsible. There are often situations where an independent contractor suffers an injury on the job and sues the trucking company that hired them.
They do so by declaring themselves as a full-time, regular employee of the trucking company. Oftentimes they do this as a means to get legal compensation for their injuries. Therefore, to tackle this issue many trucking companies opt for occupational accident insurance.
This coverage is a great option if you hire independent contractors for your trucking business. This way they’ll be protected on the job and you can rest assured knowing your business is taken care of.
It’s important to note, this coverage won’t cover the same statutory limits that a typical workers compensation policy would. However, it does provide a reasonable amount of protection at a more affordable price.
Summing Up
So, if you’re a motor carrier it’s typically a legal requirement to have workers compensation in place for your drivers. If you ever hire a contract driver then it would be wise to get occupational accident insurance. This way all your bases are covered!
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