Why does my GL policy exclude work above 50 feet?

Standard commercial GL policies often contain height exclusions because most general commercial carriers do not underwrite the risk of work at elevation. These exclusions (commonly set at 15, 25, or 50 feet) allow carriers to write general contractor risks without exposure to the elevated fatality and severity rates associated with work at height. For tower contractors, this exclusion effectively voids coverage for primary operations. Specialty markets in the excess and surplus lines space write tower GL without height exclusions because they price the risk specifically for work at elevation. When a standard market adds a height exclusion, it means any bodily injury or property damage occurring above that threshold is completely uninsured. This includes dropped tools, rigging failures, and falls. If you are performing tower work with a height-excluded policy, you are effectively uninsured for your core operations. The solution is to move to a specialty tower program that prices elevation risk into the base premium rather than excluding it.