Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance
Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance
Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance
Contractors Pollution liability insurance is needed because this is a serious issue that can prove costly.
If your business were to be found responsible for the ill effects of pollution, whether it be sudden, accidental or gradual, you could find yourself facing crippling legal fees, in addition to potentially huge compensation payouts. Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance cover could protect your business from costs and significant business disruption.
BJP is a professional insurance broker who has been dealing with specialised business insurance for nearly 20 years. We understand the problems and risks facing contractors and can find you a high quality, robust insurance plan to fit your needs.
Do Contractors need Pollution Liability Insurance?
Environmental pollution comes in all forms – from toxic chemicals or oil in water to leaked sewage and illegal omissions. Some contractors may unknowingly cause pollution by simply not being up-to-date with environmental legislation.
Many kinds of contractors can find themselves liable for pollution. These include:
- General contractors, including commercial, residential, municipal, highway/road, maintenance, mechanical, electrical, demolition, industrial and excavation
- Trade contractors, including heating and ventilation contractors, paving, concrete, metalwork and carpentry
- Specialty contractors, including foundation, pipeline and tank installation and drillers
- Remediation contractors
- Private finance initiative (PFI)/Public private partnership (PPP) projects
Why does my company need Pollution Liability Insurance for contractors?
If you’re a contractor, site owner or developer working in a trade that could potentially cause pollution (and therefore accidents or injuries) you need to strongly consider Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance.
It’s easy for contractors to wrongly believe that compensation claims for pollution would fall on the contracting company – but in reality, fault can be found on either, or both, sides.
For example:
A demolition contractor working on a site could fill voids with unviable and illegal material containing harmful pollutants such as asbestos. If these were to cause harm to people or animals, the contractor could be sued.
A residential buildings contractor contracted to build storage lagoons could allow polluted water from a construction site to contaminate a watercourse.
In both these cases, it may well not have been the contractor’s choice to cause the pollution. It could have resulted as a consequence of unforeseen natural occurrences, such as heavy rainfall or misleading information.
The Environment Agency has reported that the construction Industry is responsible for nearly a third of all industry-related pollution incidents in the UK. On their website they report a recent case in which both the contracting entity and its contractor suffered heavy losses:
United Utilities Water Limited (UU) has been fined £600,000 and its contractor, KMI+ £333,000 at Bolton Crown Court on Friday 24 June 2016 after pleading guilty to polluting a brook.
Both companies were also ordered to pay a total of £45,262 in costs (United Utilities £19,090 and KMI+ £26,172) following a prosecution by the Environment Agency.
The court heard how KMI+ was contracted by UU to carry out improvement works at Wayoh water treatment works at Turton Bottoms. In December 2013, as part of the works, KMI + emptied and removed a tank which had been used to store sodium hypochlorite in 10% solution. Sodium hypochlorite is used in the water purification process and is also the principle ingredient of household bleach. It is very corrosive and is highly toxic to aquatic organisms.’
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Who needs Pollution Liability Insurance?
Environmental pollution comes in all forms – from toxic chemicals or oil in water to leaked sewage and illegal omissions. Some contractors may unknowingly cause pollution by simply not being up-to-date with environmental legislation.
Many kinds of contractors can find themselves liable for pollution. These include:
- General contractors, including commercial, residential, municipal, highway/road, maintenance, mechanical, electrical, demolition, industrial and excavation
- Trade contractors, including heating and ventilation contractors, paving, concrete, metalwork and carpentry
- Specialty contractors, including foundation, pipeline and tank installation and drillers
- Remediation contractors
- Private finance initiative (PFI)/Public private partnership (PPP) project
Why contractors should choose BJP Insurance Brokers for their pollution liability insurance
BJP are an independent, professional insurance broker. That means our advice is impartial. We offer our contractor clients insurance policies based on their individual needs and find them the best deal with the most suitable insurer.
With nearly 20 years’ experience in the field, we know the right questions to ask to make sure we find you a robust Contractors Pollution Liability Insurance plan to fit your unique requirements.
We stay in touch with our clients to ensure that if these needs change over time, they stay fully insured. This might seem like a small detail – but a minor adjustment to your company can mean the difference between a policy being valid or invalid.
What’s more, when it comes to environmental pollution, it’s especially important for us to be up-to-date with your business activities so we can offer you the right advice to help you keep within the law.