Scrap metal businesses combine heavy plant, volatile stock and fluctuating metal prices. Cutting, shearing, baling and vehicle dismantling bring hot work, compressed gas cylinders and fluids into the same yard, while end-of-life vehicles and batteries add custody, pollution and fire questions. We help you present stock values honestly across the price cycle, explain your hot work and battery controls, and separate what property, liability, motor and pollution wording is actually designed to answer.
OAK VIEW
A scrap yard's stock changes weekly. A schedule written once a year may describe a business that no longer exists on the day of the loss.
Cover to consider
Built from the risk outwards.
Availability and scope depend on insurer acceptance and the terms offered for your business.
01
Stock and plant
Metal stock valued with a sensible basis for price movements, together with cranes, shears, balers and mobile handlers.
02
Employers' liability
Cover for employees working with heavy machinery, vehicles and cutting equipment, where policy conditions and safe systems are reviewed.
03
Custody and goods
Consideration of vehicles, containers and materials held for others, which standard property wording may not include.
04
Pollution considerations
Careful reading of sudden versus gradual pollution wording for oils, fluids and run-off from stored vehicles and batteries.
Practical buying guidance
Insure the yard as it works, not as it looked at inception
Stock value is the first moving part. Ferrous and non-ferrous prices swing, and so does volume. Agree how the sum insured is set, whether it reflects peak holdings and whether any average condition could reduce a claim. Keep a simple record of weekly holdings so that values can be evidenced.
Hot work and cylinders deserve a documented system: permits for cutting, a fire watch afterwards, secure storage of oxygen and acetylene cylinders and checks that no sealed or unknown containers enter the shear. Batteries from vehicles and electronics should be removed and stored away from stock, because stored batteries create both a fire and a pollution exposure.
Finally, separate what each policy actually responds to. Vehicles held for dismantling are in your custody, so cover may need to be expressly extended. Pollution cover for sudden events differs from gradual contamination, and clean-up of your own land is often limited. Employers' liability and machinery guarding remain central because injuries in scrap yards can be severe.
Compare the wording, not just the premium
A property policy covers the fire; it does not necessarily cover the vehicles on your forecourt or the oil that seeps from them over time.
Metal prices move, so a single annual figure can leave you short or overpaying. Discuss average and peak holdings and whether the policy basis or any average condition could reduce a claim.
Does the policy cover hot work?+
Insurers commonly attach conditions to cutting, welding and torch work, such as permits, fire watches and extinguisher provision. Not meeting a condition could affect a claim, so we review these before agreeing terms.
What about vehicles left with us?+
Customers' vehicles are in your custody, and that is often outside standard property cover. If you dismantle or move them, you may also need motor trade type consideration. Ask how custody is treated in the proposed wording.
Are oil spills covered?+
Sudden, accidental events are treated differently from gradual seepage, and many policies exclude gradual pollution. Clean-up costs on your own land may be limited, so check what is actually offered.
Programme review
What an underwriter will want to understand
Metal processing, hot work and cylinders
Shearing, cutting and baling concentrate energy and sparks in a yard with combustible fluids and mixed stock. Cutting with torches introduces hot work, and compressed oxygen and acetylene cylinders require secure storage and checks. An insurer may expect permits, fire watches and extinguishers, and failing a policy condition can affect a claim.
Sealed containers are a classic hazard. Gas bottles, extinguishers and fuel tanks entering a shear can cause explosions, so describe your checks before material is fed to plant.
Hot work permits and post-work fire watch
Cylinder segregation and storage
Pre-shear checks for sealed containers
Dust and swarf housekeeping
Batteries, stock values and vehicles in custody
Identify battery types, including lead-acid and lithium-ion, and describe how they are separated, protected from damage and managed under the applicable regulator guidance, permit and competent fire-risk assessment. Different chemistries need different controls; a generic storage description is not enough. Stored batteries can introduce both fire and contamination exposures.
Stock values vary with metal prices and throughput. A fixed annual figure may be wrong at the point of loss, so agree a basis and keep records of weekly holdings. Vehicles brought in for dismantling are in your custody, and cover for them may need express extension, as may any goods belonging to customers.
Pollution and employers' liability
Sudden pollution from an accidental event is treated differently from gradual seepage. Many policies exclude gradual pollution, and clean-up of your own land is commonly limited or excluded, so ask what is actually included. Fire and contamination from stored end-of-life vehicles may produce separate considerations.
Machinery risks also drive employers' liability. Guarding, lifting operations, vehicle movements and manual handling are central, and insurers are likely to ask about training and inspection records.
All cover is subject to insurer acceptance, underwriting information and the terms of the policy issued.
Commercial enquiry
Tell Oak about the account.
Give us the outline. We will ask for schedules and documents separately, so please do not send sensitive personal data in this form.
