{"id":2743,"date":"2022-05-11T21:54:01","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T21:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estrategist.com\/website\/members\/?p=2743"},"modified":"2022-05-11T21:54:01","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T21:54:01","slug":"logging-contractors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/logging-contractors\/","title":{"rendered":"Logging Contractors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What is a Pollutant?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any material, substance, liquid, product, etc\u2026 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many non-environmental contractors assume that claims arising from operations are covered by the general liability policy. However, claims resulting from a \u201cpollution incident\u201d are excluded from most general liability policies, which leaves many of these contractors exposed to potentially uncovered claims. What pollutants are impacting your business?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Environmental Exposures Impacting Logging Contractors\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>May include, but are not limited to<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Puncturing unknown underground storage tanks or utilities;\u00a0 Release of oils\/fuels from equipment;\u00a0 Spills from mobile storage tanks;\u00a0 Excavating through and\/or spreading of unknown preexisting contaminated soil;\u00a0 Storm water runoff;\u00a0 Puncturing unknown illegally buried drums or containers; Lead;\u00a0 Asbestos;\u00a0 Silica;\u00a0 No auditing of waste handling and disposal companies;\u00a0 Natural resource damages; Vapor intrusion;\u00a0 Storage and\/or transportation of raw materials;\u00a0 Business interruption expenses;\u00a0 Leaks from hydraulic fluid storage tanks;\u00a0 And more\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Environmental Claim Scenarios<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A logging contractor ruptured an unmarked gas pipe while working on a job, which created a large high-pressure release. Claims for cleanup and natural resource damages exceeded $300,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A property owner made a deal with a logging company for a selective cut on his large private acreage, that would be completed during the winter. After returning to his property in the spring, the owner noticed vast areas where vegetation wasn\u2019t growing back. And over the next couple months, valuable oak trees were showing signs of diminishing health. After further investigation, it was found that the logging contractor\u2019s equipment had been leaking fuel all over the property during their month of logging that winter. Claims for investigation, remediation, 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> party property damage, and natural resource damages cost the logging contractor over $500,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The concrete secondary containment of a 10,000-gallon diesel aboveground storage tank was cracked. A release from the tank spilled 8,000 gallons into the containment. The diesel seeped into the underlying soils.\u00a0 Total cost for investigation, removal, and disposal exceeded $320,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the night an unknown party illegally placed drums of hazardous liquid at a logging contractors job site.\u00a0 The containers were not leaking, but the contractor was held responsible for properly disposing of the hazardous liquid, costing the logging contractor roughly $50,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A logging company was performing a cut during late winter. Over the weekend a major warm front and thunderstorm caused a sudden snow melt, allowing sediment from the site to flow down grade into a nearby blue ribbon trout stream. The logging contractor was held liable for natural resource damages, and 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> party property damages filed by property owners on the stream. Total cost of the claim exceeded $1,000,000.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A logging contractor hired a waste hauler to transport its used equipment oil and fluids to a 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> party disposal site. The waste hauler got into an accident which caused the contents of the tanker to be released directly into a creek.\u00a0 Under Federal law (CERCLA) you own your waste from cradle-to-grave, so the logging contractor had to pay their apportionment of the remediation costs, which totaled $450,000.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A logging company routinely stored barrels of fuel, oil, anti-freeze, and other hydraulic fluids at their outdoor storage yard. While loading about 1,000 pounds of potentially hazardous products onto a truck, five barrels slipped off the fork lift releasing the contents.\u00a0 Fortunately, the logging company had an emergency response plan and their quick action allowed them to contain most of the contaminants.\u00a0 Cost of the additional cleanup was $70,000.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A contractor was subject to cleanup costs after vandals opened an onsite mobile refueling tank causing diesel fuel to be released onto virgin soil.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Benefits of Environmental Liability Insurance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike most liability exposures impacting Logging Companies, pollution losses are not a frequency risk, but rather a severity risk. Since every Logging Company 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Three Overlooked Benefits<\/b><b> of environmental liability insurance:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Defense Costs<\/b><b>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Environmental liabilities are relatively new and very litigious.\u00a0 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.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><b>Claim Management<\/b><b>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All policies come with specialists to assist you in handling a claim.\u00a0 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\u2026.?<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Third Party Liability<\/b><b>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0 You need to look at your client\u2019s and neighbors that can be impacted if you or a sub-contractor\/vendor cause an environmental loss.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Environmental Liability Insurance Coverages<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><b>Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) insurance protects the insured should they cause or exacerbate an environmental condition while performing their contractor services.\u00a0 CPL protects the insured for covered operations performed by or on behalf of the insured, while operating away from any premises they own, rent, lease or occupy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CPL can be offered on a claims made or occurrence basis.\u00a0 Coverage can be written on a job specific basis, or on a blanket basis to cover all the work performed by the insured.\u00a0 Most policies can be endorsed to cover transportation pollution liability, mold, lead, and asbestos, defense outside the limits, off-site disposal coverage, and more. Contractors incorporating CPL coverage as part of their risk transfer strategy, drive their growth and profits by marketing the benefits CPL coverage affords in reducing job interruption due to environmental issues.\u00a0 A major environmental liability exposure faced by all contractors lies in who they are doing business with.\u00a0 If there is an environmental loss at a job site, innocent contractors can and do get named in lawsuits.\u00a0 Do your subs\/vendors have CPL insurance if they cause an environmental loss?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL)\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EIL is for contractors that own, rent, lease, operate or have any other insurable interest in real property (a fixed site facility such as a shop, batch plants, cement manufacturing\/mixing plant\u2026.) that can be susceptible to pollution liabilities that actually or allegedly originated from the insured property.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coverage can include: Pre-existing unknown pollution, new pollution conditions, first party on-site clean up, third party bodily injury, property damage, business interruption and extra expense, off site cleanup costs, legal defense expenses, transportation pollution liability, offsite disposal coverage\u2026.\u00a0 Multi year term policies can be negotiated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Transportation Pollution Liability<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally, Business Auto or Truckers policies will exclude pollution losses arising from spills or other releases of transported cargo. Transportation pollution liability affords coverage during the loading, unloading and transportation, for a spill, release or sudden upset and overturn of transported cargo.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Underground Storage Tanks<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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 tank system.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Incidental Professional Liability\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Professional exposures are generally excluded from General Liability and monoline Contractors Pollution Liability policies. In the course of their normal operations, contractors face all types of professional exposures. They may make slight adjustments on the provided plans to get the job done properly, they may supervise subcontractors, or provide other recommendations which could potentially be questioned in the event of a claim. In the event of a professional claim, will your insurance provide coverage?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>uncturing unknown underground storage tanks or utilities;\u00a0 Release of oils\/fuels from equipment;\u00a0Natural resource damages; Business interruption expenses and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-risk","tag-natural-resources","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2745,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions\/2745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}