Why is groundworker insurance useful?

It is not just the usual things such as injury or damage that a groundworker insurance policy would be useful for. There are other, slightly more bizarre circumstances, that are still quite likely to happen to groundworkers and to their businesses.

For example, groundworker insurance policies are often bought with the understanding that being a ground worker involves the clearing away of earth or of structures to make way for a new development, be that a road refurbishment or for a new building, etc. You might not think, however, about things that can happen whilst you are doing this sort of work. Not the usual sorts of things, say damage to a nearby car or to a person, but other stranger things. Discoveries are one such strange thing.

Newspapers are full of stories of groundworkers discovering treasures or interest that have long been forgotten or sometimes even never known. At the very extreme end of the scale is skeletons, some of which have been found in recent groundwork projects across the UK. Treasure and amazing archaeological finds have also been reported. And recently a road works programme in Liverpool uncovered old tram lines from the city’s previous tram system. The groundworkers nor the contractors involved had any idea it existed until they appeared, and only a few local residents of the right age could remember their existence.

So how would a groundworker insurance policy be useful in this situation? The financial loss at having to stop work, which would be especially likely if human remains – however old – were found, or if worthy archaeological finds were discovered. Even ancient tram lines would need to be factored into the work, therefore changing the schedule and possibly delaying work. So this sort of insurance policy works for the bizarre as well as for the benign.