environmental Strategist, between the lines: After more than three decades concentrating in environmental risk management / insurance, I am still amazed how many businesses do not understand the vast array of environmental exposures impacting their business model.
An emerging pollutant businesses need to be familiar with are PFAS chemicals. There are over 4,000 PFAS chemicals and they are a “forever chemical”. If you are not familiar with PFAS chemicals, you need to be so let me know and I will send you some information. As an example of why PFAS is the next asbestos, to date, the State of Michigan has identified fewer than 200 PFAS contaminated sites in the State and experts believe that number is going to grow to 11,000 just in Michigan.
As the link below points out Johnson Controls is paying residents of the Town of Peshtigo, Wi. $17.5m for PFAS contamination of drinking water wells from the company’s firefighting foam training site. The settlement covers a contamination plume of about three-square miles.
Environmental coaching strategy: Working with a commercial insured, should they give you the old “we don’t have any environmental exposures in our business”. The question to ask next is, who are your neighbors and what if a neighbor causes for contamination to come onto your property? Pollution insurance policies can protect insureds if third parties contaminate their property.
I have found an effective way to get this point across is have the business pull up Google maps on their computer and type in their address. Now have them scan out to a 2-mile radius (in a Phase I site assessment they do a minimum of a 2-mile radius search to see who neighbors are) from the subject property and ask them how comfortable they are that no one in the 2 mile radius could cause for contamination to come onto their property. Oh, you are not comfortable, that would be a good reason to consider investing in pollution insurance.