To read a security contractor’s certificate of insurance, check four places: the limits against your contract, the additional insured column, the waiver of subrogation column, and the workers’ compensation section. The form is almost always ACORD 25, the Certificate of Liability Insurance.
It fits on one page. Most of what a facilities manager needs appears in two narrow columns that get skipped.
This is the document that answers for a loss at your building. The bond your vendor filed with the state answers for something else, and the difference is worth ten minutes.
The certificate proves less than it appears to
Read the header language before anything else. The ACORD 25 states that it is issued for information only. It confers no rights on the party that receives it.
The same header says the certificate does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage in the policies listed below it.
A certificate is a snapshot from the day it was issued. A policy cancelled three weeks later leaves you with a document that looks correct and covers nothing.
Two roles that sound alike
The certificate holder is the party that receives the document as evidence. That party has no rights under the policy.
An additional insured gains defense and indemnity under the vendor’s policy for claims arising out of the vendor’s work.
Being named in the box at the bottom of the form makes you the first. It does not make you the second.
The two columns that decide your exposure
Down the middle of the form are two narrow columns: ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD.
An X in either column is an assertion by the person who filled out the form. Both statuses are created by a policy endorsement.
The form says so itself. Its header notes that a statement on the certificate confers no rights in place of the endorsement.
Ask for the endorsement by form number. Additional insured status usually arrives on CG 20 10 or CG 20 37. Waiver of subrogation usually arrives on CG 24 04.
A vendor whose broker can produce those forms the same day has done this before.
Match the limits line by line
The general liability block lists each occurrence, damage to rented premises, medical expense, personal and advertising injury, the general aggregate, and the products-completed operations aggregate.
Compare each one to what your contract requires. A certificate that falls short on a single limit is a common reason a start date slips.
The aggregate deserves a second look. That number is shared across every client the vendor serves during the policy year. A large claim at another property erodes what remains for yours.
Below the liability block are automobile liability, umbrella or excess liability, and workers’ compensation.
The line most buyers skip
Workers’ compensation and employers liability appear at the bottom, with limits for each accident, disease per employee, and disease policy limit.
Security officers work on your property, at night, alone. An injury there becomes a claim somewhere.
A vendor without current workers’ compensation coverage pushes that exposure toward the property owner. Confirm the policy dates cover your full contract term.
What to put in the contract itself
The certificate documents what a contract already required. Write the requirement first.
Ask for four things in the insurance clause:
- Additional insured status on a primary and non-contributory basis, evidenced by endorsement.
- Waiver of subrogation in your favor, evidenced by endorsement.
- Thirty days written notice of cancellation.
- A fresh certificate at every policy renewal.
Item four needs a calendar reminder rather than good intentions. Policies renew annually, and nobody sends the facilities office a copy.
Where this fits with the license check
The certificate answers one question: who pays when something goes wrong at your site.
The state license answers a different one.
Michigan requires a licensed agency to file a $25,000 bond, or a policy naming the state as coinsured. That protects the public from wrongful conduct by the company. Confirm the license separately, using the Michigan license verification steps.
Both documents belong in the file before an officer reports for the first shift. That applies to a single reception desk and to armed security guards at a cash-handling site, where the liability question grows sharper.
Ask on the first call
Request the certificate, the additional insured endorsement, and the license number together. The response time tells you plenty.
Metro One Security serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties across Metro Detroit. Call (248) 436-4799 or request a quote and we will send all three.