Insurance for construction machines and equipment in Portugal: what is mandatory, what is worth having and who pays when renting (2026)

In short: to own construction machines and equipment in Portugal, the law only requires two insurances: workers' compensation (seguro de acidentes de trabalho) for the people who work with them (Law 98/2009) and motor third-party liability for machines that go onto public roads, such as registered aerial platforms, telehandlers and earthmoving machines (Decree-Law 291/2007). Inside a closed site the motor policy is not required. Everything else is optional, but machine owners rarely go without plant insurance (máquinas casco: damage to the machine itself, theft, overturning) and general liability (RC de exploração: damage to third parties), which municipalities and project owners ask for. Anyone renting needs to know that their liability policy does not cover the rented machine: that is what rental companies' protection plans are for, with excesses of €300 to €1,500.

The insurances required by law

Workers' compensation: the one everybody must have

The employer must transfer liability for the repair of work accidents to an insurer (Law 98/2009, article 79). This covers whoever operates platforms, forklifts and construction machines, and also whoever erects scaffolding or does maintenance. Three things that often go wrong:

• The declared pay must be the real pay. If you declare less than you pay, the insurer only answers for the declared pay (article 79, paragraph 4) and the difference is yours. Overtime and regular allowances count.
• The premium depends on the risk of the activity. It is a percentage of payroll by activity code: under 1% in offices and retail, considerably more in construction, scaffolding erection and work at height. Add 0.15% for the Work Accidents Fund.
• Self-employed workers must also have it (Decree-Law 159/99), with a minimum declared pay of 14 times the minimum wage. A policy for a low-risk activity costs €225 to €275 a year; in construction it is more. If you hire a sole-trader subcontractor, ask for proof of insurance.

Not having this insurance, or having it with understated pay, is a very serious offence (Law 98/2009, article 171). Fines run from €2,040 for a negligent micro-company to €61,200 for a large company acting with intent (Labour Code, article 554). Worse than the fine: after a serious accident, the Work Accidents Fund pays the pensions and becomes the employer's creditor.

Motor liability: only if the machine goes on the road

A self-propelled aerial platform, a telehandler or a backhoe loader are "industrial machines" under the Highway Code: motor vehicles "that only occasionally travel on public roads", light up to 3,500 kg and heavy above (Highway Code, article 109). Since the industrial machine registration regulation (Decree-Law 107/2006), aerial platforms, forklifts and industrial tractors that travel on public roads must be registered and, like any registered vehicle, insured (Decree-Law 291/2007, article 4).

The important exception is paragraph 4 of the same article 4: the insurance obligation does not apply when the vehicles are used in purely agricultural or industrial functions. In other words, a scissor lift that never leaves the warehouse or a boom lift working inside a fenced site does not need motor insurance. The courts confirm this reading: an accident with a forklift inside closed factory premises is an "operating accident", covered by general liability and not by motor insurance.

• Who insures: the owner; under a finance lease, the lessee (article 6). On a short-term rented machine, it is the rental company that must hold the motor policy, if the machine is going to travel.
• Minimum sums insured: the same as any vehicle, currently €6.45 million for bodily injury and €1.3 million for property damage. Insurers usually sell it as a "tractors and machines" product combining liability on the road, liability in operation (typically up to €250,000) and, optionally, damage to the machine itself.
• Uninsured on a public road: a fine of €250 to €1,250 for an industrial machine (Highway Code, article 150) and seizure of the vehicle (article 162); unregistered, €600 to €3,000 (article 117). After an accident, the Motor Guarantee Fund compensates the victims and then recovers everything from the machine's owner.

The practical rule: if the platform is ever going to cross the street under its own power, even 50 metres between two buildings, it needs registration and insurance. If it always travels by truck and works inside fences, it does not. The same goes for the operator's driving licence: it is only required on public roads.

What the municipality asks for scaffolding and cranes on the street

For the public-space occupation permit for scaffolding, cranes or hoardings, several municipalities require a copy of the liability policy covering the activity's risks, with the premium receipt. Lisbon asks for it; Cascais does not list it. It is not an insurance created by law, but in practice, without general liability you will not put scaffolding on a pavement in the capital.

The insurances that are not mandatory but worth having

Plant insurance: the machine's own policy

This is the "all risks" policy for mobile machines and equipment: it covers the machine in operation, at rest, being assembled or dismantled, within Portugal. The terms of MAPFRE and Ageas, for example, include impact, collision and overturning, falls into trenches, fire and explosion, theft with break-in or violence, storms and floods, and operator errors, lack of skill or negligence. Optionally, strikes and vandalism, earthquakes, debris removal and liability in operation. What is left out is what surprises most:

• Simple theft, without break-in or violence: a machine that disappears from an unfenced site may not be covered. Fence, lock and photograph.
• Internal causes: mechanical or electrical failures, wear, rust and corrosion. That is what machinery breakdown insurance is for.
• Wear parts: tyres, batteries, belts and hoses.
• Travel on public roads under its own power: motor insurance applies there.
• Rented-out equipment, when the rental contract assigns liability to the owner. If you rent your machines to others, tell the insurer.
• Drunk operator, improper use or use outside the manufacturer's instructions, and lack of a maintenance contract when the policy requires one.

New value, not what you paid

The sum insured is the replacement value of a new machine of identical characteristics, even if you bought it used. If you insure below that, the proportional rule applies: in a case described by a broker, a machine bought used for €75,000 and insured for that amount, when the new value was €350,000, suffered a €150,000 loss and received about €29,000 after the excess (ADASS). Ask the manufacturer or dealer for the current list price and update it at renewal.

Excesses and conditions

• Usual excess: 10% of the claim, with minimums of €250 to €1,500 depending on the cover and the machine. Higher excesses lower the premium.
• Maintenance: policies require a maintenance contract or proof that preventive maintenance and the periodic inspection are up to date. A machine without inspection can see its claim refused.
• Territory: Portugal; to take the machine to Spain, ask for the extension.
• Price: no published rates. The premium is quoted on the new value, the type and age of the machine, whether there is a maintenance contract, the ground it works on and the claims history. Get two or three quotes, with the list of machines, registrations or serial numbers, years and new values.

General liability: damage to others

It covers bodily injury and property damage caused to third parties in the company's activity. In the construction version (Fidelidade and Caixa, for example), it expressly includes damage caused by the use of sites and of machines in operation, falling materials, tools and scaffolding, loading and unloading, and damage to underground pipes. This is the policy the municipality asks for scaffolding on the street and the project owner asks for before letting you on site.

What general liability does not cover, and where most surprises come from:

• The works themselves and the materials, machines and equipment used to build them. That is what contractors' all risks is for.
• Property entrusted to the insured for safekeeping, use or work: the machine you rented is not covered by your liability policy if you damage it.
• Travel on public roads by self-propelled machines: motor insurance.
• Subcontractors and their equipment, unless expressly agreed. If you work with subcontractors, include them or require their own policy.
• Damage to neighbours from excavation or demolition, unless agreed.
• Your own workers: only with the employer's liability extension.

For an SME, general liability with €100,000 to €250,000 cover costs from about €65 a year in off-the-shelf bank products, with a 10% excess and a €500 minimum in construction (Santander). For licensed contractors and scaffolders, project owners usually ask for €500,000 to €1 million, and the premium is quoted.

Renting a machine: who pays for what

When you rent a platform or a forklift, three things are at risk: the machine, third parties and their property, and your own staff. The rental contract says who answers for each, and it is worth reading before signing. The usual picture in Portugal:

Two models coexist. In the most common one, the rental company insures the machine and sells the customer a protection plan that is not insurance but a limitation of liability. Vendap's, for example, leaves up to 85% of the repair or replacement cost with the rental company and sets the customer's excess at 15%, with minimums of €300 on tools, €500 on site modules and light vehicles and €1,500 on aerial platforms, excavators and generators. It covers natural events, external fire, impact, collision, overturning, falls into trenches, reported theft and vandalism; it excludes misuse, negligence, lack of operator training, bodily injury and tyres. The machine's downtime is added to the repair estimate. Cranes and scaffolding are left out.

In the second model, used by industrial equipment renters such as Aggreko, the risk of loss, theft or damage passes to the renter on delivery, who must prove insurance for the new replacement value with the rental company as beneficiary; without proof, an "insurance waiver" fee is added to the rental. If you have your own machines insured under a plant policy, ask the insurer for the rented equipment extension: it is usually cheap and avoids paying the protection plan on every rental.

The price of these plans and the excesses are explained, with worked quotes, in the guide How much it costs to rent an aerial work platform.

What happens without insurance

Checklist before you sign

1. List the machines with make, model, year, serial number, registration (if any) and current new value. It is the basis of any quote.
2. Decide which ones go on the road. Those need registration and motor insurance; the others do not. If in doubt, insure road travel: the premium difference is small compared with a fine and an uncovered accident.
3. Check workers' compensation against real pay, including allowances and overtime, and the correct activity. Ask for the insurer's declaration IMPIC requires.
4. Get two or three plant insurance quotes at new value, and compare excesses, simple-theft exclusions and maintenance-contract requirements.
5. Check the cover and exclusions of general liability: machines in operation, scaffolding, loading and unloading, subcontractors, employer's liability. Make sure it reaches what municipalities and project owners ask for.
6. If you rent machines, read the protection plan: minimum excess, deadline for the police report after theft, exclusions. Photograph the machine at delivery and return.
7. If you rent your machines out, declare it to your plant insurer and require the customer's proof of general liability and workers' compensation.
8. Keep periodic inspection and maintenance documented. They are a condition of the policies and the first thing an insurer asks for after a claim. Trapézio de Prismas carries out mandatory periodic inspections of platforms and lifting equipment.

Where Trapézio de Prismas comes in

We do not sell insurance. We are the JLG representative in Portugal, we sell new and used aerial work platforms and carry out the periodic inspections and maintenance that policies require. If you need the new value of a JLG machine for your policy, or an inspection report for your insurer, talk to us.