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An additional insured endorsement is an amendment to a liability policy that extends coverage to another party, such as a client, landlord, or general contractor, for liability arising out of the named insured's work or premises. A certificate of insurance alone does not create the coverage; only the endorsement itself does.
Commercial general liability policies cover the named insured. When a customer or property owner wants protection against claims connected to your operations, they ask to be added by endorsement. The endorsement does not give the additional insured coverage for its own independent negligence in most standard forms; it covers liability arising out of your work, your products, or your use of their premises, and only to the extent the endorsement language allows.
Employers see these requests constantly in construction, staffing, janitorial, transportation, and vendor agreements, and general contracting guidance from the U.S. Small Business Administration is no substitute for reading the form itself. The contract usually specifies the endorsement form number, whether coverage must apply to ongoing and completed operations, and whether your policy must be primary and non-contributory with a waiver of subrogation. Those details are not boilerplate. A certificate of insurance alone is not coverage; only the endorsement itself creates rights, so ask for a copy of the endorsement, not just the certificate.
Common problems include agreeing in a contract to broader coverage than your policy actually grants, adding parties by blanket endorsement without checking that the underlying contract requirement matches, and forgetting that adding an insured can raise your premium and expose your limits to someone else claim. Review indemnity language and insurance requirements together, since they interact.
No. A certificate is a summary document that describes coverage; it grants nothing. Only the endorsement attached to the policy creates rights for the additional insured. Always request a copy of the actual endorsement, and read the form number against what the contract requires, because a certificate can name a party the policy never added.
Usually not. Standard forms extend coverage for liability arising out of your work, your products, or your use of the premises, not for the additional insured independent negligence. Contract language promising broader protection than the policy grants leaves the gap with you, which is why insurance requirements and indemnity terms should be reviewed together.
It can. Insurers may charge for certain endorsements, and every party you add shares your policy limits, so a large claim against one of them reduces what remains for you. Blanket endorsements simplify administration but should still be matched against what each contract actually requires before you agree.