Do I Need Pollution Liability If I’ve Never Had a Spill?

A CLEAN RECORD DOESN’T MEAN A CLEAN EXPOSURE

Most pollution incidents aren’t caused by carelessness, they’re caused by circumstances a contractor has no way to see coming: an old underground tank nobody disclosed, soil contaminated by a property’s history from decades before you were hired, or a hydraulic line that fails without warning. None of that shows up in your safety record until the day it happens. Standard General Liability excludes pollution outright regardless of your track record, per the Insurance Information Institute, so a spotless history doesn’t change what’s or isn’t covered.

THE COST OF WAITING UNTIL AFTER AN INCIDENT

Pollution liability is far cheaper and easier to bind before an incident than after one. Once a spill or a contamination discovery happens without coverage in place, you’re paying for remediation entirely out of pocket, and getting a CPL policy written afterward, if you can get one at all, comes at a steep premium increase reflecting the fresh claims history. The contractors who treat pollution liability as standing coverage rather than a reaction to a near-miss are the ones who never have to make that call.

Back to the Pollution Liability hub, or see what actually triggers a pollution liability claim and how much coverage typically costs.