{
  "version": 1,
  "reviewed_at": "2026-08-29",
  "reviewer": "Hedge editorial team",
  "audience": "Licensed retail insurance professionals and authorized research agents",
  "authority_boundary": "Broker guides are educational preparation resources. They do not determine legal applicability, coverage, eligibility, appointment, activation, submission route, quote terms, or bind authority.",
  "publication_mode": "manual_curated",
  "guides": [
    {
      "slug": "uslh-insurance",
      "path": "/uslh-insurance",
      "title": "USL&H Insurance: A Broker Guide to LHWCA Coverage",
      "category": "Maritime workers compensation",
      "direct_answer": "USL&H is insurance-market shorthand for coverage addressing an employer's obligations under the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. A useful first review asks both what each employee actually does and where that work occurs. Job title, waterfront proximity, a maritime contract, or a state workers compensation policy alone does not settle LHWCA applicability.",
      "framework": [
        {
          "label": "Status: the work",
          "summary": "The statutory employee definition includes people engaged in maritime employment, including longshoring operations and harbor work such as ship repair, shipbuilding, and shipbreaking. The statute and DOL guidance also contain specific exclusions, so a maritime-sounding title is not a final answer."
        },
        {
          "label": "Situs: the place",
          "summary": "The coverage provision refers to injuries on navigable waters and specified adjoining areas customarily used for loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building a vessel. Describe the actual work areas and their use rather than relying on distance to water."
        },
        {
          "label": "Account-specific resolution",
          "summary": "DOL says the question can be complex and depends on both the location and nature of the work. Its insurance FAQ recommends discussing coverage questions with an experienced maritime insurance broker or attorney."
        }
      ],
      "first_packet": [
        {
          "name": "Named insured and organization",
          "items": [
            "Full legal names, ownership, FEINs, and every entity employing the workers",
            "Years in business, safety contacts, and responsibility for subcontracted labor",
            "Current state workers compensation carrier, policy term, and experience modification information"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Operations and contracts",
          "items": [
            "Plain-language description of every operation, including loading, unloading, repair, construction, fabrication, terminal, dock, and shipyard work",
            "Copies or summaries of contracts that allocate labor, workers compensation, maritime, indemnity, or insurance responsibilities",
            "Percent of revenue and payroll by operation, customer type, and contract"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Employee duties and payroll",
          "items": [
            "Employee counts and annual payroll by job group, not only by broad class code",
            "Daily duties, supervision, tools, and time split for workers with mixed land, dock, terminal, vessel, or water work",
            "Employees supplied by staffing firms, borrowed workers, temporary labor, owners, officers, and subcontractor labor"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Locations and water adjacency",
          "items": [
            "Each jobsite address plus a diagram, map, or description of piers, wharves, terminals, dry docks, building ways, marine railways, and navigable water",
            "What each adjoining area is customarily used for and which employee groups enter it",
            "Travel between facilities, work over water, barges, floating platforms, and temporary project sites"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Vessels and crew questions",
          "items": [
            "Vessel names or types, ownership, navigation status, and where work is performed",
            "Employee connection to each vessel, time allocation, assignments, and contribution to vessel function or mission",
            "Any captain, master, crew, seaman, deckhand, or vessel-operator roles identified for separate legal and coverage analysis"
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Loss and coverage history",
          "items": [
            "Currently valued loss runs for state workers compensation, USL&H, maritime employers liability, Jones Act, and relevant liability policies",
            "Narrative for serious injuries, over-water events, occupational disease, hearing loss, and disputed jurisdiction",
            "Prior declinations, nonrenewals, audits, payroll reclassifications, minimum premiums, and open-claim status"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "label": "DOL Longshore Act FAQ",
          "url": "https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/dlhwc/FAQ/lsfaqs",
          "supports": "Program overview, common coverage categories, exclusions, Jones Act distinction, extensions, and state-benefit coordination"
        },
        {
          "label": "DOL Longshore insurance requirements",
          "url": "https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/dlhwc/lsinsreq",
          "supports": "Employer insurance requirement, status and situs overview, and listed exclusions"
        },
        {
          "label": "DOL Longshore insurance FAQ",
          "url": "https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/dlhwc/FAQ/InsuranceFAQ",
          "supports": "Account-specific complexity, professional review recommendation, and employer responsibilities"
        },
        {
          "label": "33 U.S.C. 902",
          "url": "https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?edition=prelim&num=0&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title33-section902",
          "supports": "Statutory definitions, including employee and employer"
        },
        {
          "label": "33 U.S.C. 903",
          "url": "https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?edition=prelim&num=0&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title33-section903",
          "supports": "Statutory coverage provision and specified adjoining areas"
        },
        {
          "label": "46 U.S.C. 30104",
          "url": "https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?edition=prelim&num=0&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title46-section30104",
          "supports": "Jones Act civil action for personal injury to or death of seamen"
        },
        {
          "label": "DOL authorized Longshore carriers and self-insured employers",
          "url": "https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/dlhwc/lscarrier",
          "supports": "Current federal authorization reference by Act"
        }
      ],
      "related_resources": [
        {
          "label": "Workers compensation coverage guide",
          "path": "/workers-compensation"
        },
        {
          "label": "Cargo and ocean marine coverage guide",
          "path": "/cargo-ocean-marine"
        },
        {
          "label": "ACORD 130 workers compensation application guide",
          "path": "/insurance-form-guides/acord-130-workers-compensation-application"
        },
        {
          "label": "Commercial insurance submission checklist",
          "path": "/commercial-insurance-submission-checklist"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}