Trucking Workers' Comp

Do truckers need workers’ comp?

Workers’ comp for truckers can be an important part of your trucking insurance plan. It covers employees that get injured or sick while working. You can also cover yourself if you’re an owner-operator with no employees.

Workers’ comp can protect:

• Fleet Owners
• Motor Carriers
• Owner-Operators

Trucking Workers’ Comp

Workers’ comp helps pay for job-related illness or injury expenses.

Truck Driving Injury Examples:

• Traffic accident injuries or fatalities
• Sprains, falls, or accidents while loading cargo
• Falling while getting into or out of the truck
• Getting hurt while repairing the truck on the side of the road

Medical expenses aren’t the only thing covered by workers’ comp. If you need time off work to recover from getting hurt, it’ll supplement lost wages. You rely on your income to keep yourself and your business thriving. That means spending weeks away from work to recover from an injury can severely impact on your financial wellbeing. However, you can recover with a peace of mind knowing that workers’ comp can supplement lost income.

Employee Lawsuits
Without workers’ comp, you would have to be prepared to face a potential lawsuit if someone you hire faces a work-related injury. But relax, your workers’ comp policy will pay for associated court costs including defense lawyers and settlement fees.

Trucker Workers’ Comp Requirements

Do trucking companies need workers’ comp? The requirements are always different and will depend on your unique situation. Many states mandate workers’ comp if you have employees. But whether it’s mandatory or not–it’s a good idea to have because if one of your drivers gets injured you will be responsible for the costs if you don’t have good workers’ comp policy. A bad accident could easily put someone out of business if they don’t have the right coverage. Especially in the trucking industry.

If you don’t have employees but you’re hiring independent contractors, you should make sure they have their own workers’ comp policy. Otherwise, your business could be held responsible if they get hurt. Just make sure to ask for a current Certificate of Insurance.

Owner operators with no employees may not be required to have workers’ comp. But keep in mind that most health insurance companies won’t cover you if you get hurt on the job. Trucker workers’ comp policies provide a good safety net because they have no limits on medical costs.

Furthermore, workers’ comp covers lost wages while you can’t work. That’s what makes it such a great policy to have. You don’t want to find yourself in a sticky situation if you get hurt while driving on the job, especially if you have a family.

Trucking Workers’ Comp Class Code Examples

• 7219 – Local & Long Haul Truckers Workers Comp: A common classification for most types of truckers.
• 7228 – Local / Short Haul Trucking Workers Comp: A code for drivers that transport goods within a 200 mile radius. (Think dump trucks, towing, drive away businesses)
• 7229 – Long Haul Trucking Workers Comp: Drivers with a radius over 200 miles from your garaging location. (Interstate and long distance drive away operations)
• 7230 – Trucking – Package or Parcel / Delivery Drivers Workers Comp: Operations that deliver goods directly to consumers.
• 7231 – Mail Delivery and Couriers Workers Comp: The delivery of mail, parcels or packages.

These are just a few examples of trucking classifications– NCCI has thousands of codes if you want to find your class code.

Minimum Premium Workers’ Comp

If you’re a single driver with no employees, you’re in luck. You may be eligible for the most affordable form of workers’ comp on the market: A minimum premium policy. Minimum premiums are the baseline price set by your state. The cost of workers’ comp is based on payroll, and because you have no payroll, the policy is less expensive.

We offer a special program designed for truckers called Solo X. It’s a minimum premium policy that excludes the owner from workers’ comp coverage. We also combined it with an accident policy that gives 24-hour coverage (on or off the job). Not bad!

And even though you’re excluded in coverage, you’ll still receive a Certificate of Insurance.

Safety plan

It’s always a good idea to think about the safety your business operations to figure out how to lower the chance of getting hurt on the job. Even simple rules could help. For example, banning flip flops could cut down on ankle injuries. And that’s just one idea that’s easy to require. Find more safety resources on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website.