Michigan metal stamping and fabrication insurance gets priced and underwritten on details most shop owners never see on a quote: which workers' compensation class your process falls into, whether your press inspection records are in order, how your coil and plate inventory is valued after a year of rising steel prices, and what your welders do outside your four walls. Michigan's fabricated metal industry employed 68,521 people in 2025, and another 24,874 worked in motor vehicle metal stamping, according to BLS data. Carriers that want this business know it well, and they ask good questions.
The short version: Make sure your payroll is split by process the way Michigan's class system expects, keep your MIOSHA press inspection and test records ready to show an underwriter, raise or restructure your inventory limit if steel costs more than when you set it, and check how your policy treats welding done at customer sites. Then make sure products liability, recall and customer-owned dies are handled, because the general liability policy alone won't do it.
Your process sets your workers' comp class
Michigan uses its own workers' compensation classification system, administered by the Compensation Advisory Organization of Michigan (CAOM). How Michigan's manual describes the common classes for this work:
- 3400, Metal Goods Mfg NOC / Auto Parts Mfg. Covers making sheet metal parts "by the use of stamping presses," including machining and assembly. Dies, jigs and fixtures made in-house go to 3116.
- 3131. Small sheet metal parts produced exclusively by automatic stamping machines.
- 3146, Hardware Mfg NOC. Hardware manufacturing, which can include stamping.
- 3030 and 3040, Iron or Steel Fabricating, shop. 3030 is structural work in "a permanently located shop," not erection. 3040 is non-structural, and expressly includes ornamental and decorative work such as railings and staircases.
- 3365, Welding or Cutting NOC. For welding and cutting done as a service for others, in the shop or outside.
- Plating and painting have their own classes (3372 and 9501).
Two rules matter more than any single code. First, a separate classification only works if you keep separate payroll records for it; without them, Michigan's manual sends all the payroll to the highest-rated class that applies. Second, a shop that also installs its sheet metal work can see its whole shop payroll move to an installation class; our sheet metal shop guide covers that rule. CAOM publishes advisory pure premiums that voluntary carriers build their own rates from, plus the assigned-risk market's actual rates. For 2027, manufacturing pure premiums rise about 1.1% on average in the voluntary filing and 3.2% in the assigned-risk filing. Individual classes vary. See our posts on Michigan class codes and the experience mod.
Press records are part of your insurance application
Mechanical power presses have their own MIOSHA standard, General Industry Part 24 (hydraulic presses fall under Part 23; press brakes and ironworkers are excluded from both). Among its requirements:
- Point-of-operation guarding or devices on every production operation.
- An inspection program with two parts: periodic, regular inspections of each press and its safeguards, each recorded with the date, the inspector's signature and the press identification; and a test of the clutch/brake, anti-repeat and single-stroke mechanisms at least once a week, with signed records of any maintenance that follows.
- Reporting of point-of-operation injuries to the state within 30 days.
Amputations are the reason underwriters ask. MIOSHA's amputations emphasis program, updated in January 2026, reports 510 manufacturing amputations in Michigan from 2018 through 2020, notes that fingers made up nearly 93% of all work-related amputations statewide, and says complaint and referral inspections will be expanded to cover serious amputation hazards regardless of industry code. An established shop with clean guarding, current inspection certifications and a training log is a better account than one that can't find them, and that shows up in which carriers will quote and at what price.
Steel prices and your inventory limit
The federal producer price index for steel mill products stood about 28% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier, and roughly 49% above January 2025 (BLS, preliminary figures). If your business personal property limit was set when coil and plate were cheaper, the same tons on your floor are now worth more than you're insured for. Michigan commercial property forms commonly include a coinsurance condition, so being underinsured can cut a partial claim, not just a total loss.
Options worth discussing: raise the limit and review it more often, use a value reporting form that tracks inventory on a regular reporting schedule, or add a peak-season endorsement for the months you build up stock. The machine shop guide explains why the EMPP tax exemption on your equipment has nothing to do with what it costs to replace.
Welding and cutting: in your shop and at customer sites
Hot work is a fire exposure, and MIOSHA's welding and cutting standard (General Industry Part 12) requires moving flammables 35 feet away or protecting them, and a fire watch for at least 30 minutes after work where smoldering fires are possible. Underwriters ask how you control hot work in your own shop. They ask harder questions when your crews weld at customer plants or on job sites, because a fire there is a liability claim against you, often under a contract that requires you to name the customer as an additional insured and indemnify them. Know what your contracts say, and make sure your general liability and umbrella limits match them.
Product liability, recall and customer dies
- Product liability. Michigan's product liability statute gives manufacturers some defenses, including no liability for failure to warn when a product is provided for use by a "sophisticated user," unless a statute or regulation requires the warning (MCL 600.2947(4)). An individual employee without actual knowledge of the hazard isn't a sophisticated user, and the defense is lost if the manufacturer knew of the defect and the substantial likelihood it would cause the injury, and willfully disregarded it. Michigan's statute has no component-part defense, and the narrow protection some courts have recognized isn't something to plan your limits around.
- Recall. The standard general liability form excludes recall costs, including costs your customer charges back to you. Recall is a separate policy; our auto parts supplier guide explains how it works.
- Customer-owned dies. Dies in your plant that belong to your customer are property of others. On a standard property form they get little coverage unless the declarations show a limit for property of others, and many purchase terms require you to insure them anyway.
For automotive work, we focus on suppliers of non-safety-critical stampings and assemblies, such as housings, covers and trim components, rather than brakes, steering or other safety-critical systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the workers' comp class code for metal stamping in Michigan?
Michigan's manual places sheet metal parts made with stamping presses in 3400 (Metal Goods Mfg NOC), with 3131 where only automatic presses are used and 3146 for hardware manufacturing. In-house die work goes to 3116. Your carrier assigns the final classification, and separate payroll records are required to split classes.
What MIOSHA rules apply to stamping presses?
Mechanical power presses fall under MIOSHA General Industry Part 24, which requires point-of-operation guarding, a documented inspection program, weekly checks of the clutch/brake and single-stroke mechanisms, signed inspection and maintenance records, and reporting point-of-operation injuries within 30 days. Hydraulic presses are covered separately under Part 23.
Does a fabrication shop need different insurance for welding at customer sites?
The same policies usually apply, but the exposure changes. A fire caused by your welder at a customer's plant is a liability claim against you, often under a contract that requires additional insured status and indemnity. Underwriters will ask about outside work, and your limits should match what your contracts require.
How should a stamping plant insure steel inventory when prices change?
Review the inventory limit whenever steel prices move, and consider a value reporting form or a peak-season endorsement. Steel mill product prices rose about 28% in the year to September 2026, so a limit set last year may be short, and a coinsurance condition can reduce even a partial claim.
Does general liability cover a recall of stamped parts?
General liability isn't the policy that pays recall costs. The standard form excludes them, whether you incur them or your customer charges them back. It can cover injury or damage your parts cause. Recall needs a separate product recall policy.
The bottom line
A stamping or fabrication program is built from your process, your press records, your inventory and your contracts. A generic manufacturing quote skips all four.
We work best with established Michigan stamping and fabrication shops — production payroll, presses and equipment on the floor, a building you own or a long-term lease, and a few years of loss runs. For most of our manufacturing clients, $1 million per occurrence is the floor for liability, with an umbrella above it. Send us your current declarations pages and schedule of forms, your workers' comp payroll by class, your press inspection records and your last two loss runs, and we will tell you where the gaps are before we talk about price. J. Jacobs & Associates has insured Michigan businesses since 1981, and as an independent agency we take your program to multiple preferred commercial carriers. Call (248) 693-6455 or request a manufacturing review.