Tag: manufacturers

  • Sheet Metal Fabrication & Installation Companies

    What is a Pollutant? 

    Any material, substance, liquid, product, etc… which is introduced into an environment for other than its intended use / purpose. In other words, something that ends up where it doesn’t belong. Fresh water, cheese, and milk have all been classified as pollutants by Insurance Carriers under various circumstances. 

    Many commercial insureds assume that claims arising from their operations are covered by the general liability policy. However, claims resulting from a “pollution incident” are excluded from most general liability policies, which leaves commercial insureds with gaps in coverage. What pollutants are impacting your business?

    Environmental Exposures Impacting Integrated Sheet Metal Companies

    Include, but are not limited to: Spills from underground and/or aboveground storage tanks;  Leaks from hydraulic fluid and lubricant storage tanks;  Waste storage/handling practices;  Transporting materials;  Causing a pollution event while performing installation work at customer locations;  Raw materials stored and utilized in large quantities;  Wastewaters generated from cooling water;  Unsealed truck ramps;  Uncertainties about the historical use and conditions of property;  Inadequate or no auditing of hazardous and non-hazardous waste handlers, transporter and disposal companies;  Nuisance odors;  Adverse reactions and interactions of chemical compounds that accidentally commingle during a fire;  No emergency response training for employees;  Halon releases from fire suppression equipment;  Old septic systems;  Utilities that cross property;  Natural resource damages;  Asbestos / lead containing materials;  Silica;  Mold;  Vapor intrusion;  Products cleaning and chemical treatments (wastewaters generally contain heavy metals, oil, grease and organic compounds);  Uncontained floor drains around the plant;  Obsolete and remote equipment storage (bone) yards where contaminants percolate into the soil/groundwater; Devaluation of property value to known or perceived pollution conditions;  Illegal disposal of waste on your property by unknown 3rd parties (midnight dumping); and more… 

    Environmental Claim Scenarios

    Premise Pollution Liability (PPL) 

    • During the night, an unknown party illegally placed drums of hazardous waste into a dumpster behind a sheet metal fabrication facility.  The containers were not leaking, but the cost to properly dispose of the illegally dumped waste cost the property owner over $50,000. 
    • A sheet metal company operated a machine to cut sheet metal, a portion of which was located beneath the floor. For more than 20 years, lubricating oil from the machines moving parts seeped into the surrounding soils. When a nearby homeowner’s down gradient well used for potable water was tested, it contained total petroleum hydrocarbons. After further investigation, it was found the sheet metal company property was the source of the pollutant. Cost of remediation and 3rd party bodily injury claims exceeded $5,000,000. 
    • A sheet metal company was sued when contamination was discovered in the drinking water at a nearby residential development. After further investigation, it was determined that the pollutants did not originate from the sheet metal company’s property, removing them from the suite. However, the sheet metal company had already expensed over $50,000 fighting the claim. 
    • A sheet metal fabrication facility caught on fire. The fire department’s high-pressure hoses forced melting plastics, metals, insulation, roofing, drywall, chemicals, and other materials to build up inside the building’s foundation, creating a toxic “sludge”. Some of the “sludge” escaped the building and migrated onto to neighboring properties. The property owner was responsible for clean-up, 3rd party property damage & business interruption, and natural resource damages, which totaled over $3,500,000.  NOTE: fire departments are immune to pollution claims arising from their work while putting out fires.  

    Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL)

    • While working at a customer’s location, a contractor unknowingly drilled through a water pipe located beneath the floor. Over time, a substantial amount of mold developed within the building. The mold was discovered after a number of employees complained of rashes and wheezing. The contractor was held liable for the clean-up, 3rd party bodily injury and business interruption. Total cost of the loss exceeded $1M. 
    • While moving a large metal coil at a jobsite, the forklift operator hit a hydrofluoric acid aboveground storage tank releasing dangerous fumes into the neighboring community. Area residents and businesses were evacuated and several people were treated at the local hospital for fume inhalation. Claims for bodily injury and business interruption topped $400,000. 

    Transportation Pollution Liability (TPL)

    • A sheet metal company hired a waste hauler to transport their waste materials to a 3rd party disposal site. During transportation the hauler got into an accident, causing the truck to overturn and spills its load into a nearby stream.  Under CERCLA, the commercial insured must contribute for their apportionment of the load for cleanup cost since federal law states that you own your waste from cradle-to-grave.  Cost to settle the claim for the insured was over $300,000. 
    • A contractor got into an accident while transporting raw materials to a jobsite, causing the fluids being hauled to spill. Costs for remediation and natural resource damages exceeded $90,000. 

    Benefits of Environmental Liability Insurance

    Unlike most liability exposures impacting sheet metal companies, pollution losses are not a frequency risk, but rather a severity risk. Since every sheet metal company has numerous environmental liabilities, consideration needs to be given to the economies of scale afforded with environmental liability insurance as part of your risk transfer strategy, versus self-insurance.

    Furthermore, most commercial insureds only consider the remediation costs associated with a pollution event. However, often times the clean-up costs are far less than other costs that can arise from the loss.

    Overlooked Benefits of Environmental Liability Insurance:

    1. Defense Costs:  Environmental liabilities are relatively new and very litigious.  Even if you do nothing wrong you can still get named in a suit and have to expense defense costs i.e. legal fees, environmental investigations, etc.  
    2. Claim Management:  All policies come with specialists to assist you in handling a claim.  Who is in charge of communications, public relations, emergency response, government compliance, financial management, third party claims for bodily injury, property damage, natural resource damages….?
    3. Third Party Liability:  The majority of the time the cost to clean up the environmental problem/s is far less than the associated claims that come in from third parties for bodily injury, property damage and business interruption.  You need to look at your client’s and neighbors that can be impacted if you or a sub-contractor/vendor cause an environmental loss.        

    Environmental Liability Insurance Coverages

    Premise Pollution Liability (PPL)

    PPL is for insureds susceptible to economic loss caused by pollution that actually or allegedly originated from their operating locations.  This coverage protects insured’s for environmental conditions that arise as a result of the operations on their property, or migrate onto their property from a neighbor. Coverage can be written in a variety of ways addressing unknown preexisting conditions or new conditions.  Coverage can include third party bodily injury and property damage along with business interruption and extra expense, on and off site clean-up costs, legal defense expenses, non-owned disposal sites, transportation and more. PPL can be offered on multi-year terms, and multiple properties can be packages together on a single policy.  Most PPL policies cover above ground storage tanks.

    Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL)

    CPL Coverage protects insureds for pollution conditions they may cause or exacerbate while performing work at a 3rd party locations, weather the work is performed by the insured, or on their behalf. For sheet metal fabricators, CPL would cover them while performing installation and maintenance at customer locations, should they cause or exacerbate a pollution event while working.  

    Products Pollution Liability 

    Products Pollution Liability is for insureds that make and/or distribute a product, that if faulty, could cause a pollution incident. This coverage can be written on a stand-alone policy, or included on an environmental impairment liability policy. For Environmental Insurance markets to consider offering this coverage, they typically prefer products be intended for commercial use, as opposed to mass distribution to the general public. 

    Transportation Pollution Liability (TPL)

    Generally, Business Auto or Truckers policies will exclude pollution losses arising from spills or other releases of their cargo. Broadened auto pollution liability (typically Form CA 9948) affords coverage during the loading, unloading and transportation, for a spill, release or sudden upset and over turn of transported cargo.  

    Underground Storage Tanks

    Financial responsibility requirements ensure that owners and operators of underground storage tank systems have the ability to financially handle a release from an underground storage tank. The responsibility encompasses the ability to pay funds for corrective action and third party bodily injury and property damage from non-sudden and sudden and accidental releases from a regulated underground system.  

     

  • Manufacturers

    What is a Pollutant? 

    Any material, substance, liquid, product, etc… which is introduced into an environment for other than its intended use / purpose. In other words, something that ends up where it doesn’t belong. Fresh water, cheese, and milk have all been classified as pollutants by Insurance Carriers under various circumstances. 

    Most commercial insureds assume that claims arising from their operations are covered by the general liability policy. However, claims resulting from a “pollution incident” are excluded from most general liability policies, which leaves commercial insureds with gaps in coverage. What pollutants are impacting your business?

    Environmental Exposures Impacting Manufacturers

    Include, but are not limited to:  Air emissions from painting and plating lines, ovens, boilers, reactors, (types of emissions include: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulate (heavy metals and dusts), VOC (volatile organic compounds);  Spills from underground and/or aboveground storage tanks;  No secondary containment for aboveground storage tanks;  Leaks from elevator hydraulic fluid storage tanks;   Waste storage/handling practices;  Hazardous waste materials (i.e. drums of spent solvents, acids, caustics, paint, heavy metal particulate and dust from baghouses and electrostatic precipitators); sludges from water treatment operations;  Raw materials stored and utilized in large quantities (i.e. acids, bases, compressed gases including cyanide and hydrogen chloride, diesel fuel and lubricant oils, flammable paints and solvents);  Wastewaters generated from contact and non-contact cooling water;  Plating lines;  Drum cleaning;  Products cleaning and chemical treatments (wastewaters generally contain heavy metals, oil, grease and organic compounds);  Uncontained floor drains around the plant;  Unknown abandoned underground storage tanks;  In-ground sumps and pits;  Unsealed truck ramps;  Old and/or unknown landfills and lagoons;  Uncertainties about the historical use and conditions of property;  Electroplating baths and sludge;  Paint sludge;  Inadequate or no auditing of hazardous and non-hazardous waste handlers, transporter and disposal companies;  Obsolete and remote equipment storage (bone) yards where contaminants percolate into the soil/groundwater;  Improperly maintained paint booth filters;  Nuisance odors;  Adverse reactions and interactions of chemical compounds that accidentally commingle during a fire;  Refrigeration systems;  No emergency response training for employees;  Halon releases from fire suppression equipment;  Old septic systems;  Spills and leaks from the storage and handling  (loading/unloading) of material containers such as drums, totes or bags from vehicles and/or rail cars….;  Utilities that cross manufacturers property;  Corroded wastewater and storm water sewers;  Improper characterization of hazardous waste;  Non-compliance with SARA Title III/Community Right-to-Know reporting requirements;  Natural resource damages;  Asbestos or lead containing materials; Silica; mold, vapor intrusion….  

    Environmental Claim Scenarios

    1. An auto parts manufacturer had been removing oil and grease from their products prior to painting them. The metal goods were passed through a vapor bath of trichloronethylene (TCE), a common solvent.  During an environmental assessment it was determined the groundwater surrounding the plant contained significant concentrations of TCE and other solvents. The cleanup of the site was estimated to exceed $900,000. 
    2. During the night, an unknown party illegally placed drums of hazardous waste into a dumpster behind a manufacturer’s facility.  The containers were not leaking, but the cost to properly dispose of the illegally dumped waste cost the manufacturer roughly $50,000. 
    3. While moving a large metal coil, a forklift operator hit a hydrofluoric acid aboveground storage tank releasing dangerous fumes into the neighboring community. Area residents and businesses were evacuated and several people were treated at the local hospital for fume inhalation. Claims for bodily injury and business interruption topped $100,000. 
    4. A manufacturer began expansion of the production line area. During excavation, oily soils with a petroleum odor were discovered. Further investigation uncovered an old, undocumented sludge-drying pit, which the previous owner used back in the 1940’s. The manufacturer had to remove and remediate the soils at his expense. Cleanup costs exceeded $400,000. 
    5. A manufacturer stored bag house dust containing heavy metals in an uncovered dumpster behind the facility. Whenever it rained, storm water mixed with the dusts, forming a slurry, which ran off-site. Soil testing of a nearby stream bank showed high levels of lead, cadmium and mercury. The contaminant source was determined to be the dumpster run-off. The manufacturer was responsible for cleanup costs and natural resource damages exceeding $250,000. 
    6. A manufacturer operated a machine, which was used to cut sheet metal. A portion of the machine was located beneath the floor. For more than 20 years, lubricating oil from the machines moving parts was released into the surrounding soils. When a nearby homeowner’s down gradient well used for potable water was tested, it contained total petroleum hydrocarbons. After further investigation, it was found the manufacturer’s property was the source of the pollutant. Total cost of remediation and 3rd party bodily injury claims exceeded $5,000,000. 
    7. A manufacturer stored incorrectly labeled drums of raw materials used for the manufacture of dry cleaning products.  One-day neighbors noticed a thick, whitish-yellow vapor cloud emanating from the vicinity of the drums.  The fire department was called and after reading the labels on the drums, they began to spray them with water.  This caused an explosion, followed by a thick smoke cloud of sulfur dioxide.  Forty plaintiffs filed three lawsuits to recover damages for injuries suffered from exposure to the sulfur dioxide cloud.  Damages topped $3 million.
    8. Concrete trenches were used to transport plating line wastes to the on-site wastewater treatment system.  The high acidity of the wastewater degraded the trenches that allowed the wastewater to seep into surrounding soils.  Subsequently the soils and ground water were contaminated with heavy metals and solvents used in the plating process.  Testing in a nearby stream revealed that fish had high concentrations of metals in their systems as a result of the contamination.  Because fishing was prohibited a local environmental group submitted a class action suit against the platter for loss of enjoyment of the stream.  The group also submitted perceived bodily injury claims for ingestion of the contaminated fish.  Total claims exceeded $3.2 million.
    9. A manufacturer hired a waste hauler to transport their waste materials to a 3rd party disposal site. During transportation the hauler got into an accident, causing the truck to overturn and spills its load into a nearby stream.  Under CERCLA, the commercial insured must contribute for their apportionment of the load for cleanup cost since federal law states that you own your waste from cradle to grave.  Cost to settle the claim for the insured was $700,000. 
    10. An Auto parts manufacturer was sued when contamination was discovered in the drinking water at a new residential development. After further investigation, it was determined that the discovered pollutants were not used as part of the manufacturers process, nor was the manufacturer’s property the source of the contamination. The manufacturer was eventually released from the lawsuit. However, they had already expensed over $200,000 in legal defense costs. 
    11. A manufacturing company performed routine drum washing operation.  Overtime, solvent laced wash migrated through cracks in the concrete and into the subsurface soils and groundwater.  The plume of solvents traveled off site and contaminated a nearby municipal water supply well.  Costly remedial technology had to be implemented to provide drinking waste.  The municipality filed suit against the manufacturing company for cleanup costs and property damage.

    Benefits of Environmental Liability Insurance

    Unlike most liability exposures impacting manufacturers, pollution losses are not a frequency risk, but rather a severity risk. Since every manufacturer is impacted by environmental liabilities, consideration needs to be given to the economies of scale afforded with environmental liability insurance as part of your risk transfer strategy, versus self-insurance.

    Three Overlooked benefits of environmental liability insurance:

    1. Defense Costs:  Environmental liabilities are relatively new and very litigious.  Even if you do nothing wrong you can still get named in a suit and have to expense defense costs i.e. legal fees, environmental investigations, etc.  
    2. Claim Management:  All policies come with specialists to assist you in handling a claim.  Who is in charge of communications, public relations, emergency response, government compliance, financial management, third party claims for bodily injury, property damage, natural resource damages….?
    3. Third Party Liability:  The majority of the time the cost to clean up the environmental problem/s is far less than the associated claims that come in from third parties for bodily injury, property damage and business interruption.  You need to look at your client’s and neighbors that can be impacted if you or a sub-contractor/vendor cause an environmental loss.        

    Environmental Liability Insurance Products

    Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) 

    EIL is for manufacturers susceptible to economic loss caused by pollution that actually or allegedly originated from their operations.  Sometimes referred to as pollution legal liability this coverage is for those who own, operate, lease, or have any other insurable interest in real property and the operations. Coverage can be written in a variety of ways addressing unknown preexisting conditions or new conditions.  Coverage can include third party bodily injury and property damage along with business interruption and extra expense, on and off site clean-up costs, legal defense expenses, non-owned disposal sites, transportation and more. EIL can be offered on multi-year terms.  Sewer lines and pump/lift stations can be covered by EIL.  Most EIL policies cover above ground storage tanks.

    Property Transfer Coverage

    When buying or selling property there can be unknown preexisting environmental conditions. Since a Phase I, Phase II, All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) survey cannot guarantee uncovering all potential environmental liabilities, insurance companies have created property transfer insurance. This coverage protects the new owner or any party with an insurable interest, against unknown environmental conditions that may be discovered during the policy period, that were not caused by the new owner.   

    This coverage not only helps to keep the property at its maximum value, it will assist the purchaser in being able to secure the necessary financing to complete their transaction.  Property buyers have negotiated lower interest rates by blending property transfer coverage with their mortgage.  

    Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL)

    CPL Coverage protects the insured for pollution conditions they may cause or exacerbate while performing work at a 3rd party locations. This is for covered operations performed by or on behalf of the insured. For manufactures, CPL would cover any work they perform for their customers at their customer’s location, such as servicing, installation, and monitoring. 

    Transportation Pollution Liability (TPL)

    Generally, Business Auto or Truckers policies will exclude pollution losses arising from spills or other releases of their cargo. Broadened transportation pollution liability affords coverage during the loading, unloading and transportation, for a spill, release or sudden upset and over turn of transported cargo. 

    Products Pollution Liability 

    Products Pollution Liability is for manufactures that make and/or distribute a product that if faulty could cause a pollution incident. This coverage can be written on a stand-alone policy or included on an environmental impairment liability policy. For Environmental Insurance markets to consider offering this coverage, they typically prefer products be intended for commercial use, as opposed to mass distribution to the general public. 

    Underground Storage Tanks

    Financial responsibility requirements ensure that owners and operators of underground storage tank systems can financially handle a release from an underground storage tank. The responsibility encompasses the ability to pay funds for corrective action and third-party bodily injury and property damage from non-sudden and sudden and accidental releases from a regulated underground system.  

  • Beverage Distributors

    What is a Pollutant? 

    Any material, substance, liquid, product, etc… which is introduced into an environment for other than its intended use / purpose. Fresh water, cheese, and milk have all been classified as pollutants by Insurance Carriers under various circumstances. 

    Most commercial insureds assume that claims arising from their operations are covered by the general liability policy. However, claims resulting from a “pollution incident” are excluded from most general liability policies, which leaves commercial insureds with gaps in coverage. What pollutants are impacting your business? 

    Environmental Exposures Impacting Beverage Distributors 

    May include, but are not limited to; Pollution liabilities that occur while transporting cargo;  Spills from underground and/or aboveground storage tanks;  No secondary containment for above ground storage tanks;  Vapor intrusion;  Pollution cleanup costs after a fire;  Spills or leaks from the storage and handling (loading/unloading) of material containers such as drums, totes or bags from vehicles;  Parking equipment over unsealed surfaces allowing contaminants such as oil, fuel, anti-freeze, hydraulic fluids, asbestos… to pollute the ground;  No emergency response training for employees;  Accumulated old tires, batteries, equipment…;  Raw materials stored;  Inadequate or no auditing of hazardous and non-hazardous waste handlers, transporter and disposal companies;  Adverse reactions of materials that commingle during a fire;  Stormwater runoff;  Utilities that cross your property;  Corroded wastewater and storm water sewers;  Natural resource damages;  Asbestos;  Lead;  Silica;  Mold / Legionella;  Illegal dumping of waste on your property by unknown 3rd parties;  Pollutants from neighboring properties migrating onto yours and more…

    Environmental Claims Scenarios

    1. A fire ignited at a wine distribution facility. Water used by the fire department to extinguish the flames became contaminated by a toxic slurry like mixture from the melting materials inside the building. The high-pressure hoses forced the contaminants to flow off the property, which included a local stream. Emergency remediation contractors began investigating and found that the pollutants had entered the stream and had flowed downriver into a lake. The distributor was held liable for the claim, which included natural resource damages (including loss of aquatic life), investigation, remediation, 3rd party bodily injury from toxic fumes, and 3rd party business interruption claims as local businesses were forced to shut down during the cleanup. Total cost of the loss exceeded $6M. NOTE: fire departments are immune to pollution claims arising from their work while putting out fires.  
    2. Loading/unloading of products and material over unsealed truck ramps, over a period of several years, ground water became contaminated from pollutants that were released from idling trucks and storm water runoff.  Since the ground water was the only source of drinking water for surrounding residents and the state environmental regulatory agency designated the distributor as the responsible party, the distributor had to pay over $1,400,000 in cleanup costs and supply drinking water until the local municipality could extend water services out to the surrounding residents.  
    3. The concrete secondary containment of a 10,000-gallon diesel aboveground storage tank used for a trucking fleet was cracked. A release from the tank spilled 8,000 gallons into the containment. The diesel seeped into the underlying soils and required costly excavation and removal. The total cost for investigation, removal and disposal exceeded $320,000.
    4. An employee at a beverage distribution facility discovered several totes of unidentified waste that had been illegally dumped into the facilities dumpster. The owner had the contents tested, at a cost of several thousand dollars. The totes were determined to contain hazardous waste, which were placed in the dumpster by an unknown 3rd party. The distributor’s cost to properly dispose of the waste exceeded $100,000. 
    5. A 1,000-gallon diesel aboveground storage tank used for the backup power generator for a liquor and wine distribution facility was in a concrete secondary containment that was cracked. A rupture of the tank spilled 700 gallons into the containment that seeped into the ground causing excavation and disposal of the contaminated soils along with engineering and legal fees exceeding $90,000.  
    6. A delivery truck got into an accident and caught on fire.  The burning cargo created toxic fumes and when the fire department put out the fire it created contaminant runoff that flowed into a nearby stream.  Cost to remediate the site and claims from third parties for bodily injury and property damage due to exposure to toxic fumes exceeded $800,000.
    7. While transporting products over the road, the driver got into an accident and overturned. The products being hauled escaped the trailer and ended up in a nearby stream. Costs for remediation and natural resource damages exceeded $85,000. 

    Overlooked Benefits of Environmental Liability Insurance

    Unlike most liability exposures impacting beverage distributors, pollution losses are not a frequency risk, but rather a severity risk. Since every beverage distributor is impacted by environmental liabilities, consideration needs to be given to the economies of scale afforded with environmental liability insurance as part of your risk transfer strategy, versus self-insuring. 

    Furthermore, most commercial insureds only consider the remediation costs associated with a pollution event. However, often times the clean-up costs are far less than other costs that often arise from the loss.

    Three Overlooked Benefits of Environmental Liability Insurance 

    • Defense Costs:  Environmental liabilities are relatively new and very litigious.  Even if you do nothing wrong you can still get named in a suit and have to expense defense costs i.e. legal fees, environmental investigations, etc.  
    •  Claim Management:  All policies come with specialists to assist you in handling a claim.  Who is in charge of communications, public relations, emergency response, government compliance, financial management, third party claims for bodily injury, property damage, natural resource damages….?
    • Third Party Liability:  The majority of the time the cost to clean up the environmental problem/s is far less than the associated claims that come in from third parties for bodily injury, property damage and business interruption.  You need to look at your client’s and neighbors that can be impacted if you or a sub-contractor/vendor cause an environmental loss.          

    Environmental Liability Insurance Products

    Transportation pollution Liability 

    Generally, Business Auto or Truckers policies will exclude pollution losses arising from spills or releases of transported cargo. Transportation pollution liability affords coverage during the loading, unloading and transportation, for a spill, release or sudden upset and over turn of transported cargo.  You need to strategize on your exposure to transportation.  How are goods received?  FOB point of Shipment or FOB point of delivery?  Do not be confused by thinking the MCS-90 endorsement is auto pollution liability coverage.  

    Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) 

    EIL is for food distributors susceptible to economic loss caused by pollution that actually or allegedly originated from their properties.  Sometimes referred to as pollution legal liability this coverage is for those who own, operate, lease, or have any other insurable interest in real property and/or the operations. Coverage can be written in a variety of ways addressing unknown preexisting conditions or new conditions.  Coverage can include third party bodily injury and property damage along with business interruption and extra expense, on and off site cleanup costs, legal defense expenses, non-owned disposal sites, transportation and more. EIL can be offered on multiyear terms.  Most EIL policies cover above ground storage tanks.  You can cover multiple locations on a single policy.

    Underground Storage Tanks

    Storage tank financial responsibility requirements ensure that owners/operators of underground storage tank systems can financially handle a release from the tank system. The responsibility encompasses the ability to pay funds for corrective action and third party bodily injury and property damage from non-sudden and sudden and accidental releases from a regulated underground tank system.  

    Real estate developers/owners with a financial responsibility strategy dependent upon state UST funds need to regularly confirm fund solvency and length of time it will take to get reimbursed.  If part of your business strategy depends upon the state fund, this means just that, you are putting the future success of your business in the hands of the state.  You need to strategize on “just how strong is your business” if you are putting its future in the hands of your state government. 

    Property Transfer Coverage

    Note:  This coverage is designed for buyers or sellers of real properties.

    When buying or selling property there can be unknown preexisting environmental conditions. Since environmental due diligence (All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI), a Phase I or Phase II survey, Baseline Environmental Assessment (BEA)….), cannot guarantee uncovering all potential environmental liabilities, insurance companies have created property transfer insurance. This coverage protects the new owner or any party with an insurable interest, against unknown environmental conditions that may be discovered during the policy period, that were not caused by the new owner. 

    This coverage not only helps to keep the property at its maximum value, it will assist the purchaser in being able to secure the necessary financing to complete their transaction.  You can cover multiple locations on a single policy.