Mining Plant Hire Insurance
Whether the machine goes out with an operator or without one changes almost every insurance question that follows.
$20M
Contract limits arranged
Australia
National market access
Broker-led
Placement approach
Recognition
The Tank take
A plant hire business supplying mining clients usually needs plant and equipment cover for the machines, public liability for the business, and commercial motor for anything registered - with the structure depending heavily on whether hire is dry or wet. Hire contracts decide who insures the machine on hire, who carries liability for its operation, and what happens when it is damaged on a client's site.
Insurance responds to the arrangement you can evidence. If the hire contract says the hirer insures the machine but nobody checked their policy, the gap belongs to whoever the contract leaves holding it.
Dry hire and wet hire are different risks
Underwriters price the two models differently, and a business can run both at once. Declare the split rather than the label.
Machine only, no operator
The hirer operates your machine. The central questions become contractual: who insures the plant while on hire, at what value, and with what excess; whether your liability policy picks up claims arising from the hirer's operation; and how the contract deals with damage, downtime and recovery costs. An unchecked assumption that 'the hirer's insurance covers it' is the dry-hire gap to check first.
Machine with your operator
Your operator, your liability. Wet hire keeps operational risk with your business: third-party injury and property damage arising from the operation of the machine sit against your public liability, and operator competence, site inductions and supervision become underwriting questions. Mine-site wet hire brings the site's contractor insurance requirements with it, often including a $20 million liability limit.
Where plant hire programs get tested
Each scenario remains subject to the responding policy's wording, limits, excess and conditions - and to what the hire contract actually says.
Rollover, fire, impact or misuse while on hire. Who claims depends on the hire contract's insurance clause. If the hirer was meant to insure it and did not, the dispute starts with the contract, not the policy.
Under wet hire, your operator's actions are your liability exposure. Under dry hire, the wording and the facts decide how far your policy follows a machine operated by someone else.
Mining-spec attachments, GET and telemetry push replacement values above generic assumptions. An agreed or declared value that lags the market becomes a co-insurance argument at claim time. Sub-limits bite the same way: in liability schedules we have reviewed, property in physical or legal control was sub-limited to $250,000 against a $20 million headline limit - a schedule-specific figure, not a market standard, but exactly the kind of number to check against the gear you handle.
Float damage, load shift and over-dimension movements sit between motor, plant and liability covers. Declare who floats the gear and how.
A damaged machine stops earning. Loss-of-hire cover exists but is not automatic, and contracts sometimes make the hirer liable for ongoing hire charges - another clause to check against the program.
Mine-site work needs the right market, not more form-filling
Tell us what you do, which sites you access and the limit your contract requires. We take it to insurers with genuine appetite for mining contractors.
The sections a plant hire program draws on
No single policy does all of this. The program has to be assembled to match the fleet, the hire model and the contracts.
Usually covered
- Public liability for third-party injury and property damage arising from the business, subject to the wording
- Plant and equipment cover for owned machines, on site, in the yard and on hire where declared
- Loss of hire cover where selected, subject to its own conditions
- Hired-in plant liability for machines you hire from others
- Contractual endorsements where required by mining clients and available
Needs its own section
- Machines on dry hire where the contract puts insurance on the hirer - verify their cover exists
- Registered vehicles on public roads - commercial motor
- Operator injury - workers compensation or personal accident
- Wear, tear, breakdown and gradual deterioration - commonly excluded from plant cover
- Liability assumed under contract beyond what exists at law - wording-dependent
The hire contract is part of the insurance program whether you treat it that way or not. Have the broker read it before the machine leaves the yard.
Mine-site hire and contractor requirements
Supplying plant to operating mine sites usually brings the site's contractor management framework with it: insurance minimums, often $20 million public liability, plant inspection and acceptance standards, operator competency verification for wet hire, and site-specific induction requirements. State mining safety regulators publish contractor management guidance, and requirements vary between jurisdictions and between sites.
From a placement perspective, mine work should be declared explicitly. Insurer appetite for plant operating on mine sites is narrower than for general civil hire, and an accurate site profile in the submission avoids both mispricing and disclosure arguments later. The mining insurance hub covers how the wider contractor program fits together.
Check the rules where the site sits
Mine safety and licensing duties are state-based and sit outside your insurance policy. These regulator sources are the starting point.
External government sources. Tank Insurance is not responsible for their content; confirm current requirements with the regulator in the relevant state or territory.
More mining insurance guides
Questions about mining plant hire insurance
Whoever the hire contract says. Some contracts require the hirer to insure the plant for its full value with the owner noted; others leave it with the owner and price accordingly. The failure mode is assuming the other party has it - verify the arrangement in writing before the machine leaves.
Under dry hire, policy treatment of liability arising from the hirer's operation varies with the wording and facts. Disclose the dry-hire model explicitly and get the response in writing rather than assuming cover follows the machine.
Where a contract for operating-mine work specifies a limit, it is often $20 million, but the number comes from each contract rather than a universal rule. Read the insurance clause and match the program to it.
Only if loss-of-hire cover was selected, and then subject to its own waiting periods, limits and conditions. It is worth costing for machines whose hire income the business depends on.
General information only. This page does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs and is not legal or WHS advice. Cover depends on the insurer, policy wording, limits, excesses, exclusions and information disclosed. Read the relevant policy documents and obtain professional advice before deciding.
Put your mining risk in front of the right markets
Tell us what you do, which sites you work on and the limit your contract requires. We will explain the available terms and exclusions before you decide.