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Pollution Liability

Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance

Just about all types of contractors have environmental exposure. From a roofing contractor to an electrical contractor and everything in between, there are various degrees of environmental exposures.

Who needs Contractors Pollution Insurance?

Many contractors have a need for Contractors Pollution coverage, including, but not limited to:

  • Utility, street, and road
  • Plumbing/piping
  • Excavation/grading
  • Heavy highway
  • Water/sewer
  • HVAC
  • Roofing
  • Electrical
  • Mechanical
  • Painting
  • Demolition
  • Dredging
  • Industrial cleaning
  • Fire sprinkler
  • Restoration
  • Drywall
  • Carpentry
  • Environmental
  • General contractors

Environmental Insurance Exposures Facing Contractors

Exposures that face contractors may include disturbance of asbestos, exacerbating contaminated soil, striking an underground storage tank or utility, fumes from equipment or materials, water intrusion that leads to mold, and spills from equipment and vapors, to name a few. Claims tend to be more of a severity issue than a frequency issue.

The following is an example of a Contractors Pollution claim:Read More »Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance

Transportation Pollution Liability

Overview

When a cement truck turns over and pollutes a stream, how is that exposure addressed on your insurance policy? If a freight hauler is unloading drums of soap and one of those drums turns over and spills into a storm drain, how are you protected? At Paperless Insurance Services we offer transportation pollution liability (“TPL”) coverage to address these exposures.

Transportation pollution liability provides protection for products or materials transported, shipped, or delivered by the insured or by a carrier on the insured’s behalf. Typically, TPL offered to risks with transportation exposure, but some carriers will also specifically include loading and unloading. While unendorsed contractor’s pollution liability (“CPL”) policies may include coverage for vehicle use at a job site, they usually offer little or no coverage for transportation exposures away from a job site. TPL would be available to address this exposure. Additionally, TPL is available for site-specific risks with transportation exposures including manufacturers, freight forwards, and distribution centers. This enhancement can be endorsed onto site pollution to address their exposure.

While capabilities vary from carrier to carrier, most insurance companies offer coverage on a blanket or scheduled basis with occurrence and claims-made triggers available. Typically, minimum premiums start around $2,500.

Claim examples

Read More »Transportation Pollution Liability

Environmental Claims Part 2: Examples that Can Lead to a Loss

In first part of this article series, we described claims scenarios that can result from your known and unknown environmental exposures. Because it’s often difficult to know when an environmental coverage is necessary, we’ve compiled a list of leading questions that will help you consider your environmental exposure.

For Contracting, Consulting and Transportation Risks

  • Do you ever have any contracts that ask for contractors’ pollution liability coverage? How have you responded to those requirements?
  • Do you think there could be any additional jobs available to you if you carried this kind of coverage?
  • Do you ever do any digging or excavation? What would happen if you hit an unknown pipeline or storage tank?
  • Do you ever do any work around/consult on the removal or testing of lead paint or asbestos? What would happen if you didn’t remove it all or dispose of it correctly? Are you involved in any way with Indoor Air Quality Testing?
  • Do you ever do any work around or provide consultation about hazardous materials? What about the transport/permitting of hazardous materials?
  • Do you ever haul or have you ever hauled any soils or other material?
  • Do you ever arrange for the disposal of any hazardous material?

Read More »Environmental Claims Part 2: Examples that Can Lead to a Loss

Environmental Claims

Demolition Contractor – AsbestosDemolition Contractor – Asbestos

  • During the demolition of a portion of a museum, a contractor inadvertently disturbed unknown asbestos that had been contained in the floor tiles. The asbestos contaminated other areas of the museum, forcing closure during the remediation. The demolition contractor was held responsible for the clean-up costs and business interruption.
Drilling Contractor – Raw Sewage
  • A subsurface drilling contractor caused the release of raw sewage into both the soil and groundwater after failing to identify a sewer line before drilling. The clean-up included the excavation of several tons of impacted soil and caused a number of nearby businesses to be shut down for a few days after their basements filled with sewage. Substantial claims for business interruption and clean-up costs were filed.

Drywall Contractor – Mold

  • A drywall contractor was hanging new drywall at a construction project when an employee accidentally drilled through a small water pipe located behind the wall. The drywall contractor did not realize the leak occurred and a substantial amount of mold grew between the walls before anyone noticed. The drywall contractor was held responsible for clean-up of the mold, as well as defense of third-party bodily injury claims.Read More »Environmental Claims

Every Construction Business has Pollution Liability Exposures

Contractors face pollution risks on the job site daily. In an instant, these can damage property, impact lives and mar company reputations earned through years of quality performance.
An inadequately insured contractor can experience severe financial hardship in the event a claim is made or a suit is filed.
Pollution liability exposures can include:

  • Air exposures, e.g., dust and fumes, emissions from mobile equipment, fly ash, fungi or bacteria and more
  • Surface water exposures, e.g., construction site spill and runoff, asphalt sealants, truck/vehicle-washing runoff and more
  • Ground water and soil exposures, e.g., additives/stabilizer to concrete and soil, underground pipe leakage, damage to under- or above-ground storage or oil-containing utilities and moreRead More »Every Construction Business has Pollution Liability Exposures

Product Recall Insurance for Prepackaged Salad

Product RecallMost manufacturers, importers and wholesalers we deal on a regular bases avoid adding product recall coverage to the list of their insurance policies. Unless the destiny makes you deal with it, unlikely one knows  that the expenses for the product recall are inclusive of notification, inspection, retrieval, transportation, utilization/salvaging, compensation to injured/damaged parties, as well as good name restoration. For example, more than 90 tons of ready-to-eat salads and sandwiches by a California catering company are being recalled after 26 people in three states were sickened by a bacterial strain of E. coli linked to its products, federal health officials said on 11/10/2013.

Richmond-based Glass Onion Catering are recalling approximately 181,620 pounds of salads and sandwich wraps containing cooked chicken and ham, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said. It’s unknown how much exactly the product recall is going to cost. Read More »Product Recall Insurance for Prepackaged Salad

What insurance do dental labs really need?

What insurance do labs really need? In this short article we provide answers to some of the most common insurance related questions. Today dental lab owners and lab technicians can be sued. But it is never late to give your business insurance a check-up and determine the type of liability insurance you need to have and then to make sure… Read More »What insurance do dental labs really need?

Protection for Water and Sewer Districts

Serving the public is a serious, round-the-clock responsibility. It’s your job to protect, plan for, and serve the needs of your community as it grows. And it’s our job to protect you with thoughtfully designed, tailored insurance coverages. Our dedicated underwriting, claims and risk control teams work specifically with water and sewer districts and can provide you with one source for your insurance and risk management needs.

WE UNDERSTAND YOUR GENERAL LIABILITY HAZARDS

• Training modules for unique risks such as flagging/traffic control
• Risk control specialists to assist in analyzing digging sites for pipe-laying hazards
• Coverage available for failure-to-supply services and sewer back-up liability
• Utilization of immunities and tort caps where applicable
• Coverage for members of boards, commissions and sewer authorities

WE HAVE AN INDUSTRY-LEADING WORKERS COMPENSATION PROGRAM

• Co-located medical and claims professionals promptly handle, thoroughly investigate and fairly resolve claims, with a focus on return-to-work
• Discounts and savings through carrier’s preferred medical provider network

WE KNOW YOUR MACHINES

• Specialized equipment breakdown  coverage and certified boiler and machinery inspections and consultations through carrier’s Boiler & Machinery

WE PROVIDE SERVICES FOR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES

• Complimentary EPL hotline provides access to EPL attorneys* to answer your questions
• Discounts for employee training to help protect against “failure to train” exposures

WE UNDERSTAND EMOTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH SEWER BACKUP

• Our dedicated Sewer Backup Claim Unit  understands the importance of balancing residents’ emotional reactions to water backup events with prompt claim handling
• Specialists work with sewer backup adjusters for valuation of residents’ personal items, antiques, etc.

WE OFFER CYBER LIABILITY PROTECTION

• Coverage to protect against cyber and ID fraud for entities that store data electronically

Read More »Protection for Water and Sewer Districts

CGL Independent Contractor Exclusion

Many insurance policies include the following standard provision: “This insurance does not apply to bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, advertising injury, or medical payments for operations performed for you by independent contractors or your acts or omissions in connection with your general supervision of such operations” (exclusion). Relying on this exclusion, your insurer may deny coverage for injuries sustained… Read More »CGL Independent Contractor Exclusion

Business Insurance Market Update

The hardening insurance marketplace has led to a great deal of success for us in a variety of our niches recently. We continue to develop new products at the same time. Below are several items we wanted to highlight: 1) Apartments / Lessors Risk (Office Exposure – Real estate schedules that generate more than $100,000 in premium in the “better… Read More »Business Insurance Market Update