Environmental Liability
Standard Public & Products Liability policy offer only a very narrow degree of cover for pollution, being third party claims alleging property damage or personal injury arising from a sudden, identifiable, accidental event. In other words, there is no cover for clean up orders/costs or gradual events.
Many property owners assume they don’t need to worry about pollution cover assuming this risk will fall to their tenant. However in cases where the tenant is unable to meet their liability from a pollution event or where existing, but previously undiscovered, contamination is uncovered at the site this risk may fall to the property owner.
A stand-alone Environmental Liability policy provides cover for:
- Clean up costs
- Some fines and penalties
- Third party claims for damages due to personal injury or property damage arising from both gradual and sudden events
Broader policies may also offer cover for Business Interruption and Crisis Containment expenses
Cover can be site specific, or structured for contractors to cover various locations including transportation risks.