New York Insurance Rules for Architects and Engineers

Labor Law 240, the Scaffold Law

Labor Law Section 240 requires contractors and owners, and their agents, to provide proper protection for workers doing elevation-related work on a building or structure. Owners of one and two-family dwellings who contract for but do not direct or control the work are excepted.

The statute also says it does not impose liability on licensed engineers, architects or landscape architects who do not direct or control the work for activities other than planning and design. That exception does not remove liability under the common law or other laws. Because owners carry this exposure, New York contracts often ask every project participant for broad insurance.

Source: N.Y. Labor Law § 240 · N.Y. Labor Law § 241

Read more: New York Labor Law 240 for design firms · 'Caused in whole or in part': what additional insured status covers in New York

Access to a neighbor's property (RPAPL 881)

Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 881 lets an owner or lessee ask a court for a license to enter an adjoining property when improvements or repairs cannot be made in a commercially reasonable manner without entering, and the neighbor has refused permission. The statute's definition of documents includes evidence of insurance for the work.

Many access arrangements are negotiated instead of litigated, and neighbors often send one insurance list to everyone entering, including engineers doing pre-construction surveys.

Source: N.Y. RPAPL § 881

Read more: Neighbor access agreements for engineers in New York · No height, XCU or collapse exclusions: what engineers can send

Worker injuries and the 'grave injury' rule

Workers' Compensation Law Section 11 generally bars an employer from being held liable for contribution or indemnity to a third party for an employee's work injury, unless the employee sustained a 'grave injury' as defined in the statute, or the employer agreed to contribution or indemnification in a written contract entered into before the accident.

General liability policies usually exclude injury to your own employees, which is why workers' compensation and employer's liability coverage, and the indemnity language in your contracts, matter on New York projects.

Source: N.Y. Workers' Compensation Law § 11