Stock agent liability: check the physical work exclusion

Loading livestock, operating gates and helping in the yards are duties worth checking against a physical work exclusion.

RMA Insurance Brokers has seen physical work exclusions on liability policy schedules for stock and station agents. If your team helps draft or load livestock, it is worth checking how that wording applies to the work you do.

What the endorsement says

One schedule reviewed by RMA Insurance Brokers identified Public Liability Insurance and described the occupation as “real estate agency including stock and station agency services”. Under an endorsement headed “Physical work”, it stated:

This Policy will not cover any Claim arising from the Insured performing or failing to perform any of the following activities: physical work, manual labour, servicing of any good or product, installation of any good or product, repair works, maintenance, building contracting/subcontracting.

That wording raises a specific question: how would the exclusion apply when a stock agent takes part in physical duties at a saleyard or on a client's farm?

The work behind the occupation description

The details of your team’s involvement matter. Do staff supervise loading, physically assist with it, or do both? Do they move livestock through pens, operate gates and ramps, or carry out repairs to yards or equipment?

The endorsement names physical work and manual labour as well as repair and maintenance activities. It is worth asking how the insurer treats your team's duties under that wording, even where stock and station services are already listed on the schedule.

The description alone does not resolve the question. Nor does changing the occupation label establish that an exclusion has been removed or narrowed.

“The renewal question is specific: how does this exclusion apply when our team helps load or draft livestock?”

How the issue could arise in a claim

Consider an agent helping load cattle at a saleyard. A gate swings open and injures a bystander, who alleges that the agent failed to secure it properly.

The schedule describes liability for third-party injury and property damage. However, a physical work exclusion could also be relevant to this scenario. A review would need to consider the work being performed, the allegations, the endorsement and the rest of the policy.

The exclusion also refers to failing to perform the listed activities. That makes it worth clarifying how the insurer would treat an allegation about something the agent failed to do during loading, as well as an action the agent took.

Illustrative - outcomes depend on the policy held and circumstances of the claim.

What to check in your documents

Read your current schedule, endorsements and full policy wording together. Before arranging or renewing cover, ask:

• Does the business description reflect the livestock work your team performs, including hands-on duties?
• Is there a physical work, manual labour or similarly worded exclusion, and what activities does it name?
• Are the relevant terms defined elsewhere, or does another endorsement change how they apply?
• How does the insurer say the exclusion applies to your specific loading, drafting and livestock-handling duties?
• If different terms are agreed, are they reflected in the final policy documents?

Provide RMA Insurance Brokers specific examples of the work your team performs, including occasional tasks. We can review the relevant wording with you and seek written clarification from the insurer about how it applies to those activities.

Resolve the wording before renewal

Seeing this exclusion on policy schedules does not mean that every stock agent’s policy contains it or that a claim would automatically be declined. The point is to identify wording that may affect your own operations and have it reviewed before accepting or renewing cover.

If your policy includes a physical work exclusion, contact RMA Insurance Brokers to discuss what it may mean for your business.

For information about insurance for your business, see Business & Liability Insurance for Livestock & Property Agents.