The study found “that serious injuries, many of which required neurosurgical intervention, occurred from working in a heavily forested area without proper safety protection” (PPE.) Even with PPE, injuries can still occur. This is why workers’ compensation in- surance is mandated for business in nearly every state, except Texas. “Workers’ comp can be waived in most states with a specific filing if you are an owner and have no employees,” says Brian Fain, a commercial insurance advisor with Ferguson & McGuire . “If you have one or more employees, you are required by the majority of states to carry workers’ compensation.” Workers’ comp isn’t the only insurance worry among business owners. Litigat- ed claims in the tree care industry in- creased from 2.1% in February 2021 to 7.1% in 2022, according to a report by NIP Group. Professional liability is another insurance that’s usually recommended for tree care companies. This covers situations where arborists cut down the wrong tree or threaten the health of trees. “If you use the wrong chemical you could kill the tree,” Doherty says. Having professional liability coverage is just one way insurance can improve a tree care business’ credibility with customers. Any consumer can ask for a general lia- bility certificate, reminds Doherty, and this is especially important when peo- ple are working along tight property lines, where injury to people or assets is possible. With liability lurking around every cor- ner, it’s becoming even more important to keep up with — and even stay ahead of — industry trends. RISING INSURANCE COSTS According to Doherty, workers’ compen- sation costs have gone down over the years, with new technology helping to
make the industry safer for employees.
What has increased, however, is au- tomobile insurance and third-party bodily injury claims, accidents that can occur to people unrelated to the tree care work, such as children playing in a park next to a job site. Auto accidents are among the leading causes of fatalities for tree care profes- sionals, oen due to overloading, im- proper driving techniques, and failure to conduct proper maintenance, accord- ing to NIP Group’s report. First-party auto losses per 1,000 ve- hicles increased by 80% at the end of 2021, compared to the same time in 2020, according to the report. Addi- tionally, closed files on auto physical damage losses were 16% higher at the final quarter of February 2022 than the previous nine months combined. A surge in catalytic converter thes hasn’t helped either. Thes jumped dramatically from just 1,298 in 2018 to 14,433 in 2020, according to a report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau . ATTRACT THE BEST RATES As tree care companies look for insur- ance providers, the advice is clear: be prepared to show you are low risk. “The tree company should know their own score,” says Shipp. This score is a company’s loss ratio, which represents the amount of premi- ums paid in by a business versus claims paid out by the insurance company. Having this type of historical credibil- ity, Shipp says, can show an insurance company that a business knows how to reduce the potential for claims. Presenting a solid portfolio is the best way to show an insurance company that your company is worth insuring. Blackman suggests preparing portfoli- os that include five years of loss runs and ACORD certificates to clearly com- municate insurance coverage for each line of business.
When injuries and fatalities do occur, a lack of safety equipment is usually to blame. A five-year study in the heavily forest- ed area of Westchester, NY, for exam- ple, sought to understand why a local trauma center was seeing an “alarm- ing” number of tree-related brain and spinal injuries.
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