Building Safety Week

“Building Safety Week: The Building Blocks of How Various Pollution Exclusions Can Operate”

By: Jessica Cambridge

Article 1of 2: Overview of Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) Insurance

???????????In conjunction with Building Safety Week, which is recognized from May 2 to May 6 this year, this article series explores how various policy exclusions can operate within a commercial general liability or CGL policy, illustrates how other types of policies may respond, and identifies multiple claims examples to better show situations where additional forms of coverage may be needed due to a particular policy’s exclusion/s. As explained by the International Risk Management Institute, a CGL policy is essentially “a standard insurance policy issued to business organizations to protect them against liability for bodily injury (BI) and property damage (PD arising out of premises, operations, products, and completed operations; and advertising and personal injury (PI) liability.” However, such a policy is not without its exclusions, such as a pollution exclusion, which would exclude coverage attributed to a pollutant. While that sounds simple enough, what is and what is not considered a form of pollution may not always be evident.

Building safety is an issue that crosses all types of buildings. Whether it’s a renovation project or a brand-new building project, those involved have different risk exposures. The examples demonstrate how such liability, which may not always be easily and readily identified, can have significant consequences. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment growth for construction managers is anticipated to increase by eight percent over the period spanning from 2021 to 2031 and equating to 36,400 jobs. In fact, this surpasses the average for all occupations. As also noted by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction manager job growth is anticipated to be set at an average of 41,500 job openings annually. There are many moving components in any construction project and finding the right insurance policy or policies that are tailored to a client’s unique situation are pivotal parts to the overall success of that very endeavor. One of the target classes for Contractors Pollution Liability (“CPL”) Insurance policies, for example, is that of construction managers. General contractors are another class for which such CPL coverage would be applicable.

Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) Insurance

A Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) Insurance policy is one form of Contractors

Environmental Liability Insurance, and it can be made available for either claims made or occurrence-based coverage situations.

Here is just a sampling of some of the key features available under a Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) Insurance policy:

(1)?Liability Coverage Offerings: When a pollution event occurs that is connected to either the Insured or to an entity acting on behalf of the Insured with respect to contracting operations, CPL coverage can include property damage, defense costs, bodily injury (BI) expenses, and clean-up costs.

(2)?Emergency Response Coverage: Sometimes, emergency situations arise. Under a CPL policy, emergency response costs allow the Insured coverage to reduce the impact of a sudden and accidental pollution event.

(3) Insured Owned Sites: Both sudden and gradual pollution coverage options can be available for Insured owned sites.

???????????The target classes for CPL coverage are far-ranging, including everything from construction managers to general contractors to those involved in the construction trades just to name a few. Please contact one of our producers to explore in more detail the various policy options that are at your disposal. ?In our next article in this series, we will examine three different real-world claims examples to demonstrate just some of the factual situations that can arise in the context of building construction.?

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https://www.synapsellc.com/why-synapse/news-know/building-safety-week