Why it matters for your company
Premises and operations coverage answers what happens while you are working. Products and completed operations answers what happens afterwards: a delivered robot that fails at a customer's plant in month nine, or an installation that gives way after your team has left.
Hardware companies take their larger liability losses here, which is why underwriters ask how many units are in the field, who maintains them and whether software updates count as ongoing work. The standard-forms bureau also released a generative AI exclusion for this coverage part, effective January 2026 (Independent Agent magazine, 2025-10-21).
Related terms
- Product liabilityLegal responsibility for injury or damage caused by a product you designed, made, sold or distributed. In insurance it is answered mainly by the products and completed operations part of general liability.
- General liabilityThe policy that responds when your business operations or products injure someone outside the company or damage property you do not own. It is the first line most contracts and leases require.
- Aggregate limitThe most a policy will pay for all covered claims in one policy period, however many there are. Once it is used up, the policy pays nothing more until it renews.
- Generative AI exclusionAn endorsement that removes coverage for claims arising out of generative artificial intelligence. Standard-form versions for general liability, including one for products and completed operations, took effect in January 2026.
- Bodily injuryPhysical harm, sickness or disease to a person, including death that results. It is one of the two triggers of general liability, with property damage as the other.