Keeping subcontractors' insurance and clearances current
A roofing crew arrives at 06:40 on Monday for its first day, and the foreman asks where to sign in. The project coordinator opens the file: the subcontract is signed, but there is no certificate of insurance and no workers' compensation clearance. The crane is booked for 09:00.
Collect each trade's certificate of insurance and workers' compensation proof before it starts, check both against the subcontract, and track every expiry so a renewal arrives first. An expired document or missing endorsement can go unnoticed. In Ontario, where the construction clearance requirement applies, hiring without a clearance can leave the principal liable for a contractor's unpaid WSIB amounts.
- List what the subcontract requires: coverages, limits, additional insured status and workers' compensation proof, all due before mobilization.
- Check each certificate against that list: the legal name on the subcontract, dates covering the work, coverages and limits. A certificate only evidences a policy — New York's law says it cannot amend, extend or alter the policy's coverage — so where the subcontract calls for an endorsement, get the endorsement.
- Get workers' compensation proof from the board. Where Ontario's construction clearance requirement applies, a WSIB clearance must be obtained before work starts and remain valid until it ends. Each lasts up to 90 calendar days and can be verified online. Confirm other jurisdictions' requirements directly with their boards.
- Ask for the second tier: the same proof for each subcontractor's own subcontractors.
- Track every date on one sheet, with a reminder two weeks ahead, reviewed every Monday.
- No current proof, no work: the superintendent checks the sheet before a new crew signs in. Keep every document; Ontario requires clearances to be kept for at least three years.
Common mistakes
- Filing a certificate without reading it against the subcontract.
- Accepting a certificate in another company's name.
- Letting a crew start "just today" while the paperwork catches up.
Checklist
For each trade on the tracker
- Legal name, as on the subcontract
- Coverages, limits and policy dates
- Endorsements the subcontract requires
- Workers' compensation proof from the board, with its expiry
- The same proof for the trade's own subcontractors
- A reminder two weeks before each date
Check your understanding
A certificate ticks the additional insured box for your company, but the subcontract requires an endorsement and none is attached. Is the certificate enough?
