Hurricane Season COI Checklist for Contractors

The COI folder is one small part of a hurricane plan.

People need to know when to leave. The site needs a shutdown sequence. Equipment, temporary protection, utilities, communications, vendor dependencies, and reentry all need owners. Certificate access belongs inside that broader continuity plan.

A COI cannot tell you whether a crane is secured, who has authority to close the site, or how the team will communicate after a power outage. Start with operations. Then make sure the insurance records and contacts can travel with the response team.

Build the site plan before the document checklist

Use the site-specific emergency plan to define trigger points and responsibilities. Address evacuation, personnel accountability, equipment shutdown, material and fuel security, temporary weather protection, communications, and conditions for reentry. Coordinate that plan with the owner and other parties required by the project.

Ready.gov's business preparedness toolkits offer a practical starting point for business continuity and hazard planning. Adapt any checklist to the jobsite, local emergency direction, company policy, and contract. A generic storm list should not override the people responsible for the project.

Decide how the team will work if cellular service, office power, or the normal file server is unavailable. Name alternates. Test the phone tree and remote access while the weather is quiet.

Know which subcontractors are actually in the response plan

Pull the active job roster, then mark the subcontractors expected to work before shutdown, during protective work if authorized, or during recovery. The roster matters more than a folder index because the operation is organized around people and work, not PDFs.

For each active subcontractor, confirm:

• project and work scope
• primary and alternate contact
• internal owner
• current COI record and review status
• policy dates that fall within the planning period
• open corrections or endorsements
• expected role in shutdown or recovery, if any

Do not infer permission to perform emergency work from a certificate. Site access, emergency assignments, public-work rules, owner requirements, and safety controls vary. Follow the contract, law, emergency direction, and the project's approved plan.

Make the records reachable away from the office

Remote access should be tested, not assumed. Ask a designated team member to retrieve an active record from the actual backup location using the device and connection expected during an outage.

The person should be able to find the current certificate, supporting endorsements received, the applicable request or review notes, producer contact information, and the history of open follow-up. Preserve older records rather than overwriting them when a replacement arrives. A timeline can matter when someone later asks what the team had, reviewed, or requested on a certain date.

Control access according to company policy. Continuity does not mean putting sensitive records in an unrestricted folder. It means authorized people can reach what they need when the usual office path is down.

Pull renewals forward when normal operations may pause

Review policy dates for the active storm-period roster. If a required policy is due to expire while the office may be closed or staff may be displaced, assign the renewal early enough for the company's chosen review process.

A new certificate with a later date still needs human review. Compare the named insured, coverage rows, limits, and requested support with the applicable agreement. If an endorsement is required, request and review the relevant policy provision or endorsement.

A COI provides information about coverage in force when issued. It is not the policy, does not amend coverage, and does not create additional-insured status. Policy terms and endorsements control. A well-organized certificate file does not establish that a particular storm loss is covered.

Coverage, deductibles, exclusions, notice duties, property protections, business interruption, and claim procedures belong in a separate conversation with the broker, carrier, coverage counsel, or insurance team. Hold that conversation before a storm threatens the schedule.

Plan the first day back

Reentry creates its own rush. The team may add cleanup vendors, equipment providers, temporary labor, or specialty trades on short notice. Decide in advance who can add a vendor, who sends the document request, who reviews the response, and where an exception is recorded.

Payment, stop-work, site-access, owner, and public-work requirements vary by contract, law, and risk program. Write the escalation path instead of letting a tired field team create a new rule after the storm.

Keep the process short enough to use under pressure:

1. add the vendor to the active roster
2. send the approved request with project details
3. route documents to the shared record
4. assign human review and show the result
5. record any authorized exception and next action

Give the response team a usable history

COI Compass can import the subcontractor roster, accept files through no-login upload links, draft ACORD 25 fields with AI for human review, send renewal reminders, and retain record history. That can keep collection and follow-up visible when staff members are working from different locations.

It does not determine whether a loss is covered, verify an endorsement automatically, or decide whether a vendor can enter the site. People with the right authority still apply the contract, policy documents, emergency plan, and project requirements.

Run one continuity drill

Do not wait for a named storm. Turn off the normal path for 20 minutes and ask the designated backup to:

• retrieve the active subcontractor roster
• find one current COI and its review history
• locate the producer and subcontractor contacts
• identify a policy date that needs follow-up
• explain who can make the next operational decision

Record what failed and fix it. The team should be able to protect people, shut down the site, communicate, reach its records, and resume work under an approved plan.