Disclose the exact responsibility
Explain whether your company drills, designs, loads, stores, transports, performs or supervises blasting activities. Identify any specialized subcontractors and contractual allocation of responsibility. Do not assume that coverage written for excavation automatically accepts explosives-related operations or that subcontracting removes every exposure.
Review exclusions and reporting
Ask the insurer to address relevant blasting, vibration, subsidence and property-damage restrictions in the actual forms. Discuss claims involving neighboring property and the documentation needed to establish the work performed. A certificate or broad operations label cannot resolve a restrictive endorsement.
Coordinate the insurance layers
Evaluate the general liability, auto and excess policies together, including the work and substances each layer recognizes. Explain storage and transportation arrangements without assuming a single policy covers the full process. Regulatory compliance and site safety must be addressed by appropriately qualified professionals; insurance review does not establish compliance.
Illustrative review scenario
A contractor subcontracts blasting while retaining contractual responsibility to the mine operator. The subcontractor supplies a certificate with substantial limits, but no relevant exclusions or endorsements have been reviewed. Obtain the supporting forms and compare the subcontracted work with both parties’ policies. The hiring contractor’s retained obligations and its own exclusions remain important even when a specialist performs the work. Does the excess insurer recognize the same disclosed explosives-related activities as the primary insurer? Obtain the issued forms and resolve differences rather than inferring acceptance from the overall liability limit.