Bulldozers can easily run over people if the driver isn’t careful. Its blade can crush a technician doing repairs. Drivers can get rolled over if the bulldozer traverses an uneven surface and suddenly tips. A bulldozer is not a safe machine – it will never be. That’s why it needs to be insured. For today’s discussion, let’s talk about bulldozer insurance.
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How Dangerous Are Dozers?
The job of an insurance policy is to cover the risks associated with something. Most of these risks emerge as accidents that injure other people, the policyholder, or the object/property covered. Now, before we talk about the specifics of insurance for bulldozers, let’s first answer how dangerous bulldozers are.
Bulldozers cause a lot of accidents. According to the research published in the journal of MDPI , the leading causes are
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Failure to property control equipment
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Overloading
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Standing nearby a bulldozer while it’s working
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Failing to recognize adverse geological conditions
Governments impose protocols when working with these machines to reduce the likelihood of accidents happening. With that being said, they’re something that carries the inherent risk of bringing harm similar to a knife, a chainsaw, and similar objects.
So how dangerous are dozers? Very dangerous . The first reason is that bulldozers are heavy machines. The smallest bulldozer weighs 17,400 pounds on average. In relation to this, it only takes 551 – 881 pounds to damage a human body. With that said, if a small bulldozer crushes someone, that person has to receive more than three times what the human body could take. Therefore, instant death. Survival is possible if lucky, but the chances of a full recovery will be very slim.
Bulldozers are complex machines, and operating them can be hard even for well-trained operators. There are a lot of cases where a bulldozer overturned because the operator can’t control the dozer well. Errors that cause accidents aren’t only the driver’s fault. It also results from other equipment that dozers commonly work with such as dump trucks.
Repairing bulldozers also leads to accidents. It’s because the machine has delicate parts that, if not handled or positioned well, can injure or kill a technician. For example, there’s the blade that sometimes needs to be raised to fix other components. The dozer’s battery is concerning too, because if it leaks and contacts the skin, ugly lesions will show up.
Bulldozer insurance will protect you from overwhelming financial burden if you cause accidents while using or leasing a bulldozer. Let’s discuss the insurance policies you should be getting.
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What Are The Policies In A Bulldozer Insurance?
General Liability Policy
When a bulldozer injures someone, and that person files a claim, general liability policy is to the rescue. Injuries this policy covers are leg, hand, eye, arm, body, and other types of injuries resulting from a bulldozer operation. Persons, who you can pay with this insurance, are sub-contractors, third parties, and clients. General liability applies to numerous situations, and the table below shows examples where this policy can help:
| What Happened | Result |
|---|---|
| A contractor was operating a bulldozer. He got out of the dozer for some reason. While no driver was in the cockpit, the bulldozer suddenly reversed, mutilating its operator | The jury ordered the company owning the bulldozer to pay $20 million |
| The Pennsylvania State Police were pursuing a man who was growing some marijuana. Some police officers decided to use a bulldozer to pursue the accused. As the dozer was running, the accused wound up under the treads and died | The family of the victim filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Pennsylvania state police and received a $475,000 settlement |
| Scott Kirpan, a 50-year-old truck spotter, suffered life-altering injuries after a bulldozer ran over his legs while he was working | The court favored Scott Kirpan’s claim and ordered the owner’s of the landfill (probably his employers) and the manufacturer of the bulldozer to pay $16.25 million |
| A bulldozer topped off the interstate while a transport trailer was on the way to deliver it | Unknown |
| A pregnant woman died after a bulldozer hit and ran over her while she and her husband were loading groceries into their car at the parking lot of a supermarket | Unknown |
| Men named Scott Moore and Barb Hammer were on their way to pick up a $1,500 vintage dozer. As they were working to start the machine, the dozer suddenly lurched forward, killing Moore and Hammer as a result | Unknown |
| Medical personnel delivered a man and a firefighter to a hospital after a bulldozer accident. It was not clear how the firefighter got injured. As for the man, his hand got stuck in the front end loader of the dozer and resulted in severe injuries | Unknown |
| A bulldozer rammed into the house of a Taylor Parker, resident of Spring Hill, TN. According to Parker, the driver seemed out of his mind after denying he caused the accident when he was, in fact, facing the hole he made at the house’s wall | Taylor Parker planned to charge the driver for the damage done |
| A bulldozer cleared several homes in a suburban area after it ran in full throttle without a driver | Unknown |
Workers Comp Policy
Dozers don’t only injure other persons. It can also injure the operator, the technician, or just another employee who happens to work nearby. With that said, if you’re running a business using bulldozers as one of the primary equipment, we suggest you get worker’s compensation insurance.
While general liability provides the money to pay for injuries third parties, clients, and subcontractors sustain, workers comp provides the money to pay for the injuries of your employees. Employees can raise lawsuits asking you to reimburse their medical expenses for a work-related injury and lost income. And this will make you pay a lot and affect the financial standing of your business significantly.
The construction and mining industry is where we see a lot of bulldozer accidents. Experts attribute them due to the lack of training or negligence of the employer/employees in following/imposing safe work conditions. The Bureau of Labor of Statistics reports that 43, 500 accidents resulting from days away from work happened to heavy equipment drivers in 2020. In addition, the average length of lost days at work is 23 days.
So what are the most common injuries that bulldozers cause? The study of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention provides a clear idea. Though the report narrows to bulldozers used in mines, the data it provided might still hold true for other industries where the use of bulldozers is essential, and the most common injuries:
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Head injuries
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Eye injuries
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Back injuries
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Neck injuries
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Injuries on body parts located at the torso and upper extremities
We’re sure you want to see some real-life situations where workers got injured because of a bulldozer. Here are some examples:
| What Happened? | Result |
|---|---|
| Two employees, a bulldozer driver and a regular worker, teamed up to undertake a highway building project. The bulldozer driver drove the bulldozer in reverse to do something and didn’t notice that his partner was nearby. As a result, the bulldozer ran the other worker over and caused critical injuries. | The court fined the employer $90,000 |
| The owner of a construction company was leveling a hill for a road project. While he was working, the bulldozer overturned and rolled down the hill. He was ejected from the cockpit and got crushed by the machine | Unknown |
| An employee wanted to collect soil samples and entered the area where a bulldozer operation was taking place. As he was taking a soil sample, a bulldozer was driving in reverse and struck him. | Unknown |
| An employee died when the bulldozer tractor he was driving rolled over when the pavement gave way. | Unknown |
| A bulldozer ran over a 60-year old employee, which resulted in death. | The victim’s family filed a lawsuit against his employer |
| An employee fell off a 20-foot hole together with the dozer he was operating. Other employees took 2 hours to retrieve him | Unknown |
| A technician was installing a cooling system on a bulldozer when the belly plate fell on his face and caused severe traumatic brain injuries. | The employer lost the lawsuit and had to pay $375,000 for the damages |
| A 59-year old Amir Singh was repairing a bulldozer in Washington Road when it started without warning. | Unknown |
| A 21-year old bulldozer technician was doing repairs when the jack gave way and caused the bulldozer to come crashing down. | Unknown |
| A female operator sustained injuries after her bulldozer’s blade hit a concrete footer that had been recently poured to support the steel frame of the new bridge, causing the bulldozer to slide sideways down a hill. | Sued her employers for $1.5 million |
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Equipment Coverage
Repairing a bulldozer is costly. At most, expect to pay $1,000 minimal for labor costs. Other factors that affect repair costs are the extent of the damage, which component of the dozer needs fixing, how long the repair work will be, and the cost of replacement (if ever the mechanic decides the defective part can’t be salvaged).
An equipment coverage insurance will pay for all the repair cost a bulldozer needs, especially if the damage that requires fixing resulted from an accident. Carriers offer this policy as an additional option to commercial business property of clients who do business in construction work, handywork, carpentry, interior design, earthmoving, and other related industries.
When it comes to heavy equipment such as bulldozers, not having enough money for the meantime isn’t an excuse. This is because accidents can happen if you fail to fix faulty components, even the slightest ones.
Owners spend 25% – 49% of their bulldozer’s original price for repairs. With that said, here’s a table showing the actual costs.
| Bulldozer Brand and Model | Total Repair Cost ( assuming engine repair, cooling system repair, blade repair, hydraulic system repair, and so on ) |
|---|---|
| John Deere 850L | $187,258.70 |
| Komatsu D65EX-18 | $110,830.5 |
| Caterpillar D9T (2018) | $410,602.5 |
| XCMG Ty420 | $74,250 |
| LIEBHERR PR 754 (2016) | $10,5671.68 |
| CASE 250M WT | $133,155 |
| Shantui SD16 | $31,185 |
| Longking LD160 | $42,075 |
| TOP HBXG SD8N | $94,050 |
Help others make better decisions
Bulldozer Rental Insurance
Do you offer bulldozers for rent? If so, get bulldozer rental insurance. This insurance will cover lawsuits from clients, settlement for damages, and repair costs of the bulldozers. Policies comprising bulldozer rental insurance are:
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General liability coverage – very useful if a client files a lawsuit accusing you of renting defective or poorly maintained bulldozers
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Equipment coverage – handy when the client damages the rented dozers and refuses to repair them
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Umbrella coverage – adding an umbrella coverage ensures that you’re still covered in case your general liability reaches its limit
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Bulldozer Insurance Cost
Are you wondering how much you’ll pay for the policies comprising bulldozer insurance? If so, these are the costs:
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Bulldozer general liability insurance offering $1 million coverage costs $85 a month or $1,020 a year
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Workers comp for bulldozer operators and technicians is $67 a month or $804 a year
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Equipment coverage for bulldozers costs $75 a month or $900 a year
| Cost per Year | Cost per Month | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoverWallet | $80 | $960 | Bulldozer insurance quotes comparison online |
| Trusted Choice | $100 | $1,200 | Highly tailored insurance for bulldozers |
We suggest you click the “Get Quotes” button to see the exact pricing of different carriers. What we provided in the bullet are only average costs. Therefore, you might be spending less or more. Also, by doing our suggestion, you’ll also get to compare insurance quotes online and find the best offer that fits your needs.
Best Bulldozer Insurance Companies
CoverWallet Bulldozer Insurance
Pros
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Compare bulldozer insurance quotes online
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Cancel a policy anytime
Cons
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Doesn’t sell its own bulldozer insurance
CoverWallet is an insurance broker with an online quotes comparison platform you can use to find carriers that offer tailored coverage for bulldozers. You can also choose to buy the insurance from CoverWallet. Premiums are paid easily online. Also, you can get a free certificate of insurance.
Best for: Bulldozer insurance quotes comparison online
Average cost: $80
Our rating: 10/10
Trusted Choice
Pros
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Connects you with agents so that you have the most appropriate coverage
Cons
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Doesn’t give you an estimate of rates through its online insurance quotes
Trusted Choice matches you with agents who know the ins and outs of bulldozer insurance. You can choose to get general liability coverage, inland marine, business interruption, equipment breakdown, and other useful coverages.
Best for: Tailored insurance for bulldozers
Average cost: $100
Our rating: 9/10
