Contractors risk insurance

Patryk Piątkowski

Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7926-2243

Abstract

In the article, author analyzes the construction risk insurance. The article attempts to characterize the construction risk insurance contract by describing the insured parties, the subject and the scope of construction risk insurance. The author describes an open catalogue of insured parties including
the investor, the main contractor, subcontractors and designers. The insuran-
ce contract was also described in terms of the subject of insurance, based on the general insurance conditions of selected insurers with a division into pos
sible parts of the insurance – section I (insurance of property under construction), section II (tort liability for damage caused in connection with construc-
tion works) and the least common – section III (insurance of the investor’s expected profit as a result of delay resulting from property damage). The ar-
ticle also describes the scope of construction risk insurance constructed using special Munich Clauses, which have been the subject of insurance practice for several decades. These clauses have been divided in the form of a table into clauses narrowing the scope of insurance coverage and clauses extending in-
surance coverage under this insurance. The correctly determined insurance period and the insured and guaranteed sums determining the upper limit of the insurer’s liability were also indicated. A position was expressed on the extremely important role played by the construction risk insurance contract in the investment process, constituting a real protection of the property interests of the investment process parties and a form of financial transfer of
possible damages to a more solvent debtor – the insurer. The main aim of this article is analysis of the construction risk insurance contract – entity, subject,
and scope of this insurance shaped in the main measure by the Munich clauses and the sum insured and guaranteed sum. Second aim of the article, is
statement that the insurance conditions used by insurance companies (without the use of extended legal protections) according to the Munich Clauses often do not cover the part of risk related to the construction activity. The above thesis was confirmed by examples of loss events that were not covered by insurance protection by the insurer, without the prior application of additional criteria.

Keywords:

construction risk insurance, construction sector, civil liability, insured person, Munich clauses, insurance contract