Pollution Insurance / Environmental Insurance
When you hear the terms Environmental Liability, Environmental Insurance or Pollution Insurance you may think that only entities that create waste or handle hazardous materials should be buying this coverage. The fact is, that the need for environmental insurance is fairly vast and covers a wide range of industries: Construction, Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Retailers, Real Estate, Consultants, Auto-related businesses and more.
You don’t need to be handling “hazardous” materials to be exposed to a pollution claim; that is likely going to be excluded on your general liability insurance policy. Simple products that we think are harmless in regular use become hazardous when they are spilled, dumped, or released where they don’t belong. Still not sure you need environmental insurance? Take a look at a few of these examples where your general liability policy simply won’t cut it:
- Retail: A pool store catches fire. The chlorine they have in storage burns and releases toxic fumes. Firefighters and bystanders are injured inhaling those fumes. Ensuing bodily injury claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars are declined.
- Manufacturing: A metal working business, paints and plates metal parts. The chemicals used in those operations contaminate the soil and ground water over dozens of years of improper disposal and have now spread to neighboring properties. Cost to clean up: $1.2 million! Not covered!
- Real Estate: a purchaser of a strip mall doesn’t perform an environmental inspection of a property that had a dry cleaner on the premises 15 years earlier. Contamination of the premise exists due to improper use and disposal of cleaning chemicals. The property owner now has responsibility for cleanup costs of over $130,000.
- Contractor: while transporting spray foam insulation to a job site, the contractor’s truck catches fire, spilling insulation chemicals on a public highway. Clean up and disposal cost $40,000 – not covered.
Coverage can be tailored to your specific needs and may be more affordable then you think! For a no obligation environmental insurance quote, or more information, please contact Preferred Insurance Services.
