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Which Insurance Should You Consider?
Consider workers’ compensation, general liability, commercial property, equipment breakdown, and tools, equipment and inland marine. Start with the coverages tied to your day-to-day operations, then use the situations and buying questions below to compare your options.
Workers’ compensation
You hire employees, add a work state or change the tasks people perform.
California generally requires employer workers’ compensation coverage even with one employee. Check current requirements in every other state where people work.[2][3][1]
Ask Before Buying
Which states, entities, work locations and duties are listed, and how are classifications and employers-liability terms handled?
General liability
Employees install, repair, test or service equipment at customer sites or invite contractors onto an operating site.
General liability can address certain bodily-injury and property-damage claims tied to premises and operations. Have the insurer map the actual activities and exclusions to the form.[1][6]
Ask Before Buying
Are each site, process, installation and completed operation accurately described, and what exclusions or sublimits affect them?
Commercial property
A site contains machinery, stock, tools or property belonging to a customer or contractor.
List property interests, locations, values and causes of loss in the proposal, then check the valuation and exclusions in the form.[1][6]
Ask Before Buying
Which buildings, equipment, stock and third-party property are scheduled at each location and at what values?
Equipment breakdown
A mechanical or electrical failure could halt a critical process or damage equipment.
Ask separately which named machines and breakdown causes an equipment-breakdown form addresses; do not assume ordinary property terms include them.[1]
Ask Before Buying
Which named equipment, failure causes and resulting loss terms appear in the quote?
Tools, equipment and inland marine
Tools, samples or customer property move between sites, vehicles and installation locations.
For movable business property, ask whether an inland-marine form should schedule each item, trip and handler. The actual wording determines what movement is included.[1]
Ask Before Buying
Which items, values, routes, handlers and installation stages are scheduled while property is away from the premises?
Describe the Work Before It Changes
Before opening a site, adding a shift or changing a process, update the broker with the entity doing the work, addresses, machinery, materials, visitors and customer-site activity. Ask the broker to identify how those operations appear in the proposal and what exclusions or classifications apply.[1]
For each operating process, identify customer or contractor property in your care, where it is located, and whether staff install, service or move it. Ask the broker where those activities and property appear in the application and which location or form limits apply.[1][6]
Coordinate Employees, Temps and Host Sites
If temporary workers operate at a host site, OSHA says staffing and host employers share safety responsibilities, with the division depending on the facts and control. Give the broker the staffing arrangement and actual work duties, but do not treat OSHA’s safety guidance as an insurance allocation.[4]
California generally requires employer workers’ compensation coverage even with one employee. Check the current rule with DWC and each other state regulator where people work.[2][3]
Account for Equipment Failure and Movement
List machines whose failure would interrupt delivery and ask about equipment-breakdown wording separately from property coverage. Confirm the actual equipment definition, covered causes and resulting-loss provisions.[1]
List tools, samples and customer property that travel between work sites. Ask whether inland-marine terms apply to the objects, handlers, destinations and installation stages you actually use; do not infer transit protection from a property schedule alone.[1]
Providers to Compare by Coverage
Workers’ compensation
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Amelia Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
2.0/ 10
General liability
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Amelia Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
2.0/ 10
Commercial property
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
CFC
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Equipment breakdown
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Tools, equipment and inland marine
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Common Questions
If a production machine fails, does property insurance pay for the lost work time?
Not necessarily. The California commercial guide discusses equipment breakdown and business interruption separately; NAIC ties ordinary business interruption to a covered event involving property damage.[1][5]
Read the Full AnswerSources and Further Reading
- Commercial Insurance Guide — California Department of Insurance. Revised June 14, 2024; commercial property, inland marine, boiler and machinery/equipment breakdown, commercial general liability, commercial auto, umbrella, and workers compensation. California-focused guidance; confirm other jurisdictions and actual policy wording.
California commercial guide on general liability, property, equipment breakdown, inland marine and workers compensation.
- DWC Employer Information — California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation. California employer workers compensation information; California-specific, including stated out-of-state employer examples.
California DWC employer information for California work-state questions.
- DWC FAQs for Employers — California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation. Employer FAQ on California workers compensation requirements; one-or-more employee statement and separate sole-proprietor treatment.
- Protecting Temporary Workers — Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Staffing agency and host employer safety coordination; duties depend on facts and control. This is not insurance allocation.
OSHA temporary-worker safety coordination guidance.
- Business Interruption and Business Owner Policy — National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Business interruption and contingent business interruption; covered physical damage and dependent-business trigger qualifications.
- Small Business Insurance — National Association of Insurance Commissioners. BOP and exclusions; general liability and exclusions; professional liability, crime and cyber; business property. General educational descriptions, not policy terms.
Spot, a product of Tools for Enlightenment, publishes this guide and works in the commercial insurance market. This is general buyer education; policy terms and state-specific obligations determine coverage and requirements.
Updated 2026-09-28. Editorial Policy
Get Help With Insurance Buying and Renewals.
Get help buying coverage and managing renewals, with less paperwork for your team. Start with a free consultation.