Oregon contractor insurance requirements

Workers' comp in Oregon

Nearly every Oregon employer with one or more employees, full-time or part-time, must carry workers' comp.

The agency in charge is the Oregon Workers' Compensation Division. It can tell you whether a specific business needs coverage, and most states let you look up an employer's policy online.

Contractor licensing and insurance

Oregon's Construction Contractors Board sets liability minimums by endorsement: $500,000 per occurrence for a residential general contractor, $1,000,000 aggregate for a commercial general contractor level 2, and $2,000,000 aggregate for level 1.

Indemnity and additional insured clauses

Oregon's anti-indemnity statute (Or. Rev. Stat. § 30.140) voids construction contract clauses that make a contractor indemnify another party for that party's own negligence, even in part. Clauses limited to the contractor's own share of fault generally hold up. The statute also reaches insurance: a contract can't use an additional insured requirement to get coverage for the other party's negligence that the indemnity rule forbids.

What to check on a contractor COI for a Oregon project

1. Workers' comp. Nearly every contractor with employees needs it in Oregon. A contractor with a crew and no workers' comp on its COI is a gap. For an out-of-state contractor, confirm Oregon is listed on the workers' comp policy.
2. General liability. A Oregon license only shows the contractor met the state's floor. Compare each limit on the COI with your project requirements, which are usually higher.
3. Additional insured. In Oregon, the anti-indemnity statute also limits what an additional insured requirement can do. Ask your broker or attorney which wording holds up, then check that the endorsement on file matches it.
4. Dates. Every policy should run through the end of the job. A COI only shows coverage on the day it was issued, so check again at each renewal.

Forsured checks every contractor COI against your project requirements, then keeps checking for the life of the project. Send us one project's requirements and a contractor COI or two for a free COI risk check.