Coverage by Trade

37 trades · 12 coverage types · BLS 2024 data

What insurance does your trade actually need?

Most "what insurance do I need" pages are written to sell a policy. This one starts from the other end: the injury record BLS publishes for your industry, the few coverages federal law fixes, and the policy types contracts and licences ask for. Pick a trade and the checklist tells you what each one is for.

Build my checklist See the risk rankings

Construction workers in high-visibility vests and hard hats on a city job site
The checklist covers construction, services, transport, food and care trades. Photo: Jim.henderson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)
1234
  1. 1Coverage types mapped 12
  2. 2Riskiest trade here 8.5 per 100
  3. 3Private industry 2.3 per 100
  4. 4FMCSA minimum, freight $750,000
The site's key figures; callouts link to the pages behind them.

Coverage checklist

Your situation

    Local messengers and local8.5Couriers and express deliv7.9Nursing care facilities6.3Carpet and upholstery clea5.6Warehousing and storage4.8Waste collection4.7Framing4.6Used household and office 4.3Siding3.2General freight trucking3.1Plumbing, heating and air-3Landscaping3
    Total recordable injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers, 2024, top 12 of 37 trades on this site; private industry overall is 2.3. Bars to scale. Source: BLS SOII Table 1.

    How to read this site

    Three kinds of statement appear on every trade page, and they are kept apart. Legal requirements are the few that can be cited: the FMCSA financial-responsibility minimums for interstate carriers in 49 CFR 387.9 ($750,000 for non-hazardous freight, up to $5,000,000 for bulk hazmat), and the fact that workers' compensation is required by state law once you have employees, with thresholds this site does not reproduce. Practical requirements are what contracts, landlords and licences ask for — general liability certificates above all. Risk data is BLS: how many recordable injuries and illnesses each industry logs per 100 full-time workers, and how many of those cost days away from work.

    Across the 37 trades here the injury rate runs from 1.5 to 8.5 per 100 FTE against a private-industry figure of 2.3. That spread is the single biggest reason two businesses with the same revenue pay very different premiums, and it is why the ranking page exists.

    Start with the coverage, not the trade

    General liabilityThird-party bodily injury and property damage arising from your operations, premises and completed work.Workers' compensationMedical costs and lost wages for employees injured at work, in exchange for which employees give up the right to sue.Commercial auto liabilityLiability for vehicles owned or used by the business; physical damage is optional.Hired and non-owned autoLiability when employees drive their own cars or rented vehicles on company business.Inland marine (tools and equipment)Your tools, equipment and materials in transit or on a job site, which a property policy excludes once they leave your premises.Professional liability (E&O)Financial loss a client suffers from your advice, design or service rather than from physical damage.

    All 12 coverage types

    Trades covered

    Automotive repair and maintenance 1.9Carpet and upholstery cleaning services 5.6Child care services 1.9Couriers and express delivery services 7.9Drywall and insulation contractors 2.9Electrical contractors 1.8Exterminating and pest control services 2.2Finish carpentry contractors 1.8Fitness and recreational sports centers 1.8Flooring contractors 2Framing contractors 4.6Full-service restaurants 2.2General freight trucking 3.1Glass and glazing contractors 2.7Home health care services 1.6Janitorial services 2.5Landscaping services 3Limited-service restaurants 2.6Local messengers and local delivery 8.5Masonry contractors 1.9Motor vehicle towing 2.3Nonresidential building construction 1.9Nursing care facilities 6.3Painting and wall covering contractors 1.6Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors 3Poured concrete foundation and structure contractors 2.8Residential building construction 2.5Roofing contractors 2.4Security guards and patrol services 1.5Siding contractors 3.2Site preparation (excavation) contractors 1.5Specialized freight trucking 2.7Structural steel and precast concrete contractors 2.8Tile and terrazzo contractors 2.4Used household and office goods moving 4.3Warehousing and storage 4.8Waste collection 4.7

    The number is the 2024 total recordable case rate per 100 full-time workers.

    Sources: BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, Table 1 (2024), incidence rates per 100 full-time workers; 49 CFR 387.9 — Schedule of limits, public liability (eCFR). Checked 2026-10-23. Methodology.