The platform and boom
Damage to the boom, basket, turntable and chassis, generally scheduled by unit value.
Boom Lift Insurance
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Boom Lift Insurance
Cover for telescopic and knuckle boom elevating work platforms.
A boom lift puts a person and a basket into the air near structures, traffic and often overhead powerlines. Contact with live conductors is the exposure insurers ask about first, because it drives both the injury claim and the network operator's repair bill. Machine damage is usually secondary to what happens around the machine, and hire fleets add the question of who was operating.
What is it?
Boom lifts are elevating work platforms with either a straight telescopic boom or an articulating knuckle boom, on diesel, hybrid or electric drive, reaching from around ten metres to well over forty. Genie, JLG, Haulotte and Snorkel are the makes most commonly seen in Australian hire fleets. Operators generally need the relevant high risk work licence for boom-type platforms of eleven metres or more.
What does boom lift insurance cover?
Overhead powerline contact
Contact with live conductors, which can bring liability and network repair costs, subject to the policy terms.
Overturn and ground failure
Machines going over on soft ground, kerbs, service pits or unsupported slabs.
What affects the cost?
- Platform height and machine value
- Hire out versus own use
- Work near live electrical assets
- Operator licensing records
- Where machines are stored between hires
Worth raising on the call
- Powerline contact is treated seriously at underwriting, and documented exclusion zones help the conversation.
- If you dry hire units out, the hire agreement wording matters as much as the policy wording.
- Routine and major inspections under the relevant Australian Standard are commonly expected to be current.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Basket contacts an overhead line
A knuckle boom repositioning near a building contacts an 11kV overhead conductor, damaging the machine and taking out supply to the street. The network operator's repair and outage costs, plus any injury claim, typically dwarf the value of the machine itself.
Machine over on soft ground
An outrigger is set on a service pit lid or freshly backfilled trench and punches through, putting a boom lift on its side against a parked car. Cover generally turns on the liability section, and insurers ask about spreader plates, ground assessment and whether the machine was set up to the manufacturer's instructions.
Dry hire unit returned damaged
A unit hired out to a builder comes back with a bent boom section and a torn basket cage, and the hirer disputes responsibility. Whether you recover generally depends on the hire agreement wording as much as the policy, since the agreement is what makes the hirer liable in the first place.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether damage and liability arising from contact with overhead powerlines is covered, and what exclusion zone, spotter or permit conditions the policy attaches to work near live electrical assets.
- Worth confirming how machines dry hired out to third parties are treated, whether that use must be declared, and what the hire agreement is required to say for the policy to respond.
- Worth confirming whether cover is conditional on routine servicing and the ten yearly major inspection under the relevant Australian Standard for elevating work platforms being current and documented.
Common questions
Do I need a licence to operate a boom lift?
In Australia a high risk work licence is generally required to operate a boom type elevating work platform where the boom length is eleven metres or more. Below that, training and a documented verification of competency is the usual expectation rather than a licence. Requirements are set by the WHS regulator in your state, and insurers commonly ask about operator records at underwriting.
Does my public liability cover the person working in the basket?
Injury to your own worker is generally a workers compensation matter rather than a public liability one, and public liability wordings commonly exclude employee injury for that reason. Injury to someone else's worker or a member of the public is where the liability section normally responds. It is worth mapping who is an employee, a subcontractor and a labour hire worker before assuming which policy answers.
How much does boom lift insurance cost?
It depends on the fleet and how it is used, so no figure should be quoted up front. Platform height and machine value, whether units are hired out or used only by your own crews, how often work happens near live electrical assets, operator licensing records, storage between hires and claims history are the main drivers. Whether you need higher liability limits for particular sites also matters.
Do I need to tell my insurer if I start hiring machines out?
Yes, dry hire is a materially different exposure from own use because control of the machine passes to someone else, and insurers generally expect it to be declared. The hire agreement, the induction and handover process and how damage is recorded on return all become relevant. Undeclared hire out is a common source of disputed claims, so it is worth raising before the first machine leaves.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See mobile plant machinery insurance for the wider picture.
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