Insurance - Manual labour %

[sludgesurfer]

I contract offshore to oil company clients. I took on a contract which involves the decommissioning of certain elements of topsides and subsea infrastructure for an oil production facility. It's a massive, complex project likely running for years although my portion is well-defined and I expect it to be complete in a year or so.

I have around 40 guys (mix of contract and staff) reporting to me - a mixture of specialist and black trades. Primarily its a desk job on either a fixed platform or construction/dive vessels but I'm out at the worksite for a large portion of the day checking progress, resolving issues etc... Some of these are high risk worksites - confined spaces often under full BA, rope access work at the splash zone, simops with divers etc...

I carry professional indemnity and public liability insurance cover and specify a 20% manual labour component. When I've challenged my various insurers over the years on what actually constitutes "manual labour" both the verbal and policy wording is pretty vague. If I don breathing apparatus, enter a confined space to witness a welding job - am I performing manual labour even if I am not actually performing the task?

I appreciate this is a pretty niche question but I'd appreciate any input on how others calculate/define the manual labour element of their contractor insurance policies. Thanks.

[northernladuk]

Interesting situation there but I think you already know a large majority of us are IT contractors so probably not the best audience. Are there no oil/gas forums with your peers on it? I'm sure you can't be the only one having to ask that?

[sludgesurfer]

Indeed. Although this is far and away the best general contractor resource I've found - IT or otherwise. Any O&G specific forums are mostly (I'm told) unstructured rantfests on Facebook which I don't have.