A guard removes an intoxicated guest from a property at one in the morning. There is a struggle. The guard tears a shoulder. The guest goes to the emergency room and later alleges excessive force.
One event, two claims, two policies, two adjusters, and two completely different questions being answered at the same time. The guard’s injury is a workers’ compensation matter. The guest’s allegation is a liability matter.
That split is the defining feature of workers’ compensation in security work, and it is why this coverage cannot be evaluated on its own.
Armed and Unarmed Are Different Class Codes
Florida uses separate workers’ compensation classifications for security personnel: 7720 for unarmed guards and patrol, and 7723 for armed guards. Each carries its own rate, and the difference between them is substantial.
A company running both armed and unarmed posts should have payroll split across both codes according to the work each guard actually performs. Office and dispatch staff who never work a post belong in a clerical classification rather than being swept into a guard code.
Classifying armed guards as unarmed to reduce premium is not a shortcut. It is a misrepresentation that surfaces at the worst possible moment, either at audit or during a claim involving the guard who was miscoded.
Workers’ Compensation Is the Exclusive Remedy, and That Cuts Both Ways
This is the piece that makes the dual-claim problem make sense.
When an employee is injured on the job, workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against the employer. The guard cannot sue the security company over the injury; he receives benefits under the policy instead. That protection is one of the main reasons the coverage exists at all.
The exclusive remedy protects the employer from the employee. It does nothing about the third party. The guest alleging excessive force is not an employee and is not limited by it, which is why that claim proceeds independently under general liability and, where it applies, assault and battery coverage.
A security company needs both policies properly in place because one incident routinely engages both, and neither one answers the other’s question.
Employer’s Liability Is the Part Nobody Reads
A workers’ compensation policy has two parts. Part A pays statutory benefits. Part B, employer’s liability, responds to injury suits that fall outside the workers’ compensation system, and it matters more in security than in most trades.
The scenario that makes it real is the third-party-over action. A guard is injured at a client’s property and sues the property owner. The property owner, holding a contract with an indemnity clause, brings the security company in. That claim is against the security company but it is not a workers’ compensation benefit claim, and employer’s liability is what stands behind it.
Employer’s liability limits are often left at whatever the carrier defaults to. On a company working under contracts with indemnity obligations, those limits are worth a deliberate look.
Your Clients Will Require a Waiver of Subrogation
Nearly every security contract asks for one, and most owners sign without knowing what they agreed to.
Subrogation is the carrier’s right to recover from whoever caused a loss. If a guard is injured because of a property owner’s negligence, the workers’ compensation carrier would ordinarily pursue that owner to recover what it paid. A waiver of subrogation gives up that right.
It has to be endorsed onto the policy, and carriers charge for it. A contract that requires one against a policy that does not carry the endorsement is a contract you are not actually complying with, and that gets discovered when a claim happens rather than when the contract is signed.
Before signing a client agreement, the waiver requirement should go to your agent along with the additional insured and limit requirements, not be noticed later.
Subcontracted Guards Become Your Payroll
Security companies use subcontracted guards for overflow, special events, and coverage gaps constantly.
If a subcontracted guard company does not carry its own properly classified coverage, that payroll can be charged to the hiring company’s policy at audit. If the sub was running armed posts, it gets charged at the armed rate.
An exemption certificate does not solve this. An exemption covers the owner who filed it and nobody else on his crew. The question is whether the guards actually working your posts are covered, not whether the company that sent them has paperwork on file.
The Injuries in This Trade Are Specific
Slip and fall during patrol, particularly overnight and in wet conditions. Physical injury during confrontations and removals. Vehicle accidents on mobile patrol. Heat illness on extended outdoor posts, which in Florida is a recurring seasonal exposure rather than an occasional one. And the cumulative effect of long standing and walking shifts.
Heat deserves specific attention because it is predictable and therefore manageable. Shift rotation, shade and water access, and acclimatization for new guards are cheap compared to a heat claim, and they are the kind of documented practice that supports a company at renewal.
The Mod Rewards Consistency, Slowly
The experience modification factor is calculated across several years, which means a bad stretch follows the company forward and a clean one takes effect gradually rather than at the next renewal.
Frequency matters more than severity in that calculation. Several minor recordable injuries can do more damage to a mod than one significant claim, which is why prompt incident reporting and active claim management pay off even on small losses.
Written post orders, documented training, and incident reports do double duty here. They defend individual claims and they build the record that keeps the mod down.
Officer Exemptions
Florida allows certain corporate officers and LLC members to exempt themselves, with rules that differ by business structure and industry classification.
An exemption is not a saving for the person exempted. An owner who works posts, responds to calls, or covers a shift and gets hurt has no benefits, and most personal health plans exclude work-related injuries. For an owner who is still in the field, that is a real exposure rather than a line item removed from the premium.
What Security Company Owners Should Confirm
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Is payroll split correctly between 7720 and 7723, and is office staff classified separately?
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What are your employer’s liability limits, and do they fit the indemnity obligations in your contracts?
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Do your client contracts require a waiver of subrogation, and is that endorsement actually on your policy?
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Do your subcontracted guard companies carry coverage, or only an exemption?
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If they carry an exemption, is anyone else on their crew working your posts?
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What is your experience modification factor, and what is driving it?
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Do you have written post orders, training records, and an incident reporting process?
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Is there a heat illness protocol for outdoor posts?
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If officers are exempt, do any of them still work in the field?
General information only, not legal advice. Classification codes and rates, exemption eligibility, and the availability of endorsements including waiver of subrogation vary and are subject to change; confirm current requirements with the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation. Contract insurance requirements should be reviewed against your actual policies before signing.
Talk to Prestige Insurance Group
Prestige Insurance Group writes Florida security agencies across Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, and Tampa, from new agencies through established operations.
If you are reviewing coverage, send us a client contract along with your declarations pages. The requirements in that contract are usually where the gap is, and it is a faster way to find one than reading the policy cold.
Call the office nearest you. Se habla español.
Orlando: 407-993-2331
Miami: 305-969-8776
Stuart: 772-247-3788
Prestige Insurance Group, License L057894
