Contractor COI Compliance Checklist

Collecting a Certificate of Insurance doesn’t necessarily mean a contractor has satisfied your insurance requirements.

Use this checklist before approving a contractor for a project.

COI Review Checklist

• Contractor or vendor name matches the insured
• Required insurance policies are shown
• Policies are currently active
• Policy expiration dates have been reviewed
• Required limits are satisfied
• General Liability requirements have been reviewed
• Automobile Liability requirements have been reviewed, when applicable
• Workers' Compensation requirements have been reviewed, when applicable
• Umbrella/Excess requirements have been reviewed, when applicable
• Additional-insured requirements have been reviewed
• Required endorsements or supporting documentation have been received
• Waiver of subrogation requirements have been reviewed, when applicable
• Certificate holder information is correct
• Description of Operations has been reviewed
• Project-specific requirements have been checked
• Any inconsistencies have been resolved

Check items off as you review. Nothing is saved or submitted from this page.

Don’t Stop at “Certificate Received”

The purpose of COI review isn’t simply to collect a document.

It’s to determine whether the information provided corresponds with the insurance requirements established for that contractor and project.

A certificate can be received while still containing something that requires attention.

Common Issues to Watch For

Expired Coverage

Check policy expiration dates before work begins and monitor them throughout longer projects. When a policy has already lapsed, the expired contractor COI guide covers the follow-up review. Keeping many expiration dates current across a set of contractors is what COI tracking software is for; if you track them by hand, the COI tracking spreadsheet guide covers the columns worth keeping.

Insufficient Limits

Compare the limits shown on the certificate with your actual requirements.

Which presumes the requirements exist as figures somewhere. Vendor and contractor insurance requirements covers what a requirement needs to state before anyone can check a certificate against it, and COI coverage gaps shows the shortfalls the comparison turns up.

Wrong Named Insured

The insured organization should correspond with the contractor you’re hiring.

Additional Insured Questions

Certificate-holder status and additional-insured status are not interchangeable.

If additional-insured coverage is required, review the appropriate supporting documentation. The additional insured guide explains what to look for.

Missing Documentation

A certificate may reference requirements that need to be supported by endorsements or other documentation. The three that most often arrive in one contract clause each have their own evidence: additional insured status, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording.

Project Mismatch

A contractor may have insurance but still fail to meet the requirements established for a particular project.

Turn the Checklist Into a Repeatable Process

Verisova helps teams organize contractor insurance review around the requirements that actually matter.

Upload the certificate, associate it with a project and identify items requiring attention before work begins.

Rather than manually checking every item, see how Verisova reviews a COI against your requirements. For the ongoing side — expiration dates and documents needing attention across many contractors — see COI tracking software.

Know the risk before they go onsite.