Income Protection For Mastic And Sealant Applicators
Mastic is the last thing to happen on a building and the first thing anybody notices if it is wrong.
The job is a clean, even, continuous bead, run by hand around frames, joints, sanitaryware and cladding. It is close, precise, repetitive work, and the whole of it comes down to hand control and thumb pressure on a gun.
Because it is a finishing trade, it also happens under the worst programme pressure on any job.
The short answer
Mastic and sealant work means running a clean continuous bead with a gun, which depends on sustained thumb and hand pressure and a steady hand, thousands of times a day. The characteristic damage is to the thumb and wrist, and solvents and uncured sealant are on the skin constantly. Income protection replaces part of your earnings if it stops you working.
What actually stops you working
- Thumb and wrist damage from sustained gun pressure: tendonitis, trigger thumb and arthritis at the base of the thumb
- Hand tremor or loss of fine control, which ends the ability to run an acceptable bead
- Skin sensitisation and dermatitis from solvents, uncured sealant and cleaning products
- Respiratory irritation from solvent vapour in unventilated finished rooms
- Neck and shoulder problems from working at awkward heights and angles for detail work
- Knee damage from kneeling to seal skirtings, floors and sanitaryware
- Falls from ladders and hop-ups while sealing above head height
Sick pay, if you get any
Almost all mastic applicators are self-employed, often working for main contractors and shopfitters on a priced or day-rate basis, so sick pay is nothing. Because this is a finishing trade, work comes in bursts timed to handovers, and missing a burst means missing the job rather than a shift.
Why the definition of incapacity decides it
Own occupation is close to the whole point of cover in this trade, because the problem is usually a thumb. Somebody with a damaged thumb is capable of almost any job that does not need precise repeated pressure, which an any occupation policy would treat as fit for work while the one skill they are paid for has gone.
It Is A Thumb Trade, And That Is Unusually Specific
Most trades can name a limb. This one can name a joint, and it is worth being precise about it on an application.
Running a bead means squeezing a gun trigger with sustained force while guiding the nozzle with the other hand, continuously. The load falls on the thumb and the base of the thumb, and the trade's familiar problems are tendonitis, trigger thumb and osteoarthritis of the thumb joint, often appearing earlier than people expect.
Precision matters as much as strength. A bead that is not clean has to be cut out and redone, so a tremor, a stiff joint or reduced sensation ends the work even where grip strength is intact. That is a narrower definition of fitness than most trades have, and it is the reason the own occupation question is not academic here.
Solvent And Sealant Are On Your Hands All Day
The second exposure in this trade is chemical and it builds up quietly.
Tooling a bead means contact with uncured sealant, and cleaning up means solvents, repeatedly, on skin that is already working hard. Occupational dermatitis and skin sensitisation are common results, and once somebody is sensitised the reaction tends to get easier to provoke rather than harder.
There is also the ventilation problem. Finishing work happens in completed rooms with the windows shut and the heating on, so solvent vapour concentrates. Any respiratory or skin history is relevant to an application whatever caused it, and better declared than discovered later.
If you stop
Mastic is on the critical path to handover, so a main contractor cannot wait: they will put somebody else on it the same week. The work is also highly visible, which means a replacement's bead next to yours is obvious, so jobs tend to be re-let whole rather than shared.
What A Household Is Left With In This Trade
Self-employed applicators have no death in service, so whatever has been arranged privately is all of it.
This is a well-paid specialism for the people who are genuinely good at it, which means the income being replaced is often higher than the job title suggests to anybody outside construction.
The figure worth covering is the mortgage, van finance, and the years of income a household would need. Doing the arithmetic properly matters when the earnings are higher than people assume.
A Lump Sum When The Hand Stops Being Reliable
The characteristic ending is a thumb or wrist that cannot do the work to the standard required, in somebody entirely well in every other respect.
That is a very narrow disability with a very wide consequence, and it is the clearest case of being employable and unable to earn what you did.
A lump sum funds the move. Applicators with a reputation move into supervision and quality control on fit-out, estimating for sealant and facade packages, or running a firm with employed applicators doing the gun work.
Common questions
Can a mastic applicator get income protection?+
It is worth asking. The work is lighter than most construction trades but highly repetitive with solvent exposure, and acceptance and terms are the insurer's decision. Saying what you mostly seal gets a more accurate answer than the job title alone.
Why do you ask specifically about my thumbs?+
Because that is where this trade fails. Sustained gun pressure loads the thumb and the base of the thumb, and tendonitis, trigger thumb and arthritis of that joint are the familiar outcomes, often earlier than people expect.
What if I can hold a gun but my hand is not steady?+
That is a real scenario here and it is why the definition matters. A bead that is not clean has to be cut out, so reduced control ends the work even with normal grip strength. An own occupation policy asks whether you can do this job.
Is dermatitis from sealant common?+
Yes. Tooling means contact with uncured sealant and cleaning means solvents, repeatedly, and occupational dermatitis and sensitisation are frequent results. Once sensitised, reactions tend to be provoked more easily rather than less.
What deferred period suits this work?+
Usually short. There is no sick pay, and because mastic sits on the critical path to handover, a contractor will replace you within the week rather than wait, so missing a burst of work means missing the job.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.