{"id":2805,"date":"2022-05-16T21:45:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T21:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estrategist.com\/website\/members\/?p=2805"},"modified":"2022-05-16T21:45:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T21:45:14","slug":"sheet-metal-fabrication-installation-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/sheet-metal-fabrication-installation-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheet Metal Fabrication &#038; Installation Companies"},"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. In other words, something that ends up where it doesn\u2019t belong. 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 commercial insureds assume that claims arising from their 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 commercial insureds with gaps in coverage. What pollutants are impacting your business?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Environmental Exposures Impacting Integrated Sheet Metal Companies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Include, but are not limited to<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Spills from underground and\/or aboveground storage tanks;\u00a0 Leaks from hydraulic fluid and lubricant storage tanks;\u00a0 Waste storage\/handling practices;\u00a0 Transporting materials;\u00a0 Causing a pollution event while performing installation work at customer locations;\u00a0 Raw materials stored and utilized in large quantities;\u00a0 Wastewaters generated from cooling water;\u00a0 Unsealed truck ramps;\u00a0 Uncertainties about the historical use and conditions of property;\u00a0 Inadequate or no auditing of hazardous and non-hazardous waste handlers, transporter and disposal companies;\u00a0 Nuisance odors;\u00a0 Adverse reactions and interactions of chemical compounds that accidentally commingle during a fire;\u00a0 No emergency response training for employees;\u00a0 Halon releases from fire suppression equipment;\u00a0 Old septic systems;\u00a0 Utilities that cross property;\u00a0 Natural resource damages;\u00a0 Asbestos \/ lead containing materials;\u00a0 Silica;\u00a0 Mold;\u00a0 Vapor intrusion;\u00a0 Products cleaning and chemical treatments (wastewaters generally contain heavy metals, oil, grease and organic compounds);\u00a0 Uncontained floor drains around the plant;\u00a0 Obsolete and remote equipment storage (bone) yards where contaminants percolate into the soil\/groundwater; Devaluation of property value to known or perceived pollution conditions;\u00a0 Illegal disposal of waste on your property by unknown 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> parties (midnight dumping); and more\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Environmental Claim Scenarios<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Premise Pollution Liability (PPL)\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the night, an unknown party illegally placed drums of hazardous waste into a dumpster behind a sheet metal fabrication facility.\u00a0 The containers were not leaking, but the cost to properly dispose of the illegally dumped waste cost the property owner over $50,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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\u2019s 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 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> party bodily injury claims exceeded $5,000,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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\u2019s property, removing them from the suite. However, the sheet metal company had already expensed over $50,000 fighting the claim.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A sheet metal fabrication facility caught on fire. The fire department\u2019s high-pressure hoses forced melting plastics, metals, insulation, roofing, drywall, chemicals, and other materials to build up inside the building\u2019s foundation, creating a toxic \u201csludge\u201d. Some of the \u201csludge\u201d escaped the building and migrated onto to neighboring properties. The property owner was responsible for clean-up, 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> party property damage &amp; business interruption, and natural resource damages, which totaled over $3,500,000.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NOTE: fire departments are immune to pollution claims arising from their work while putting out fires. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL)<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While working at a customer\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Transportation Pollution Liability (TPL)<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A sheet metal company hired a waste hauler to transport their waste materials to a 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> party disposal site. During transportation the hauler got into an accident, causing the truck to overturn and spills its load into a nearby stream.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Cost to settle the claim for the insured was over $300,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0<\/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 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.<\/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 can arise from the loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Overlooked Benefits<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of Environmental Liability Insurance:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><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 style=\"font-weight: 400;\" 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.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Environmental Liability Insurance Coverages<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><b>Premise Pollution Liability (PPL)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PPL is for insureds susceptible to economic loss caused by pollution that actually or allegedly originated from their operating locations.\u00a0 This coverage protects insured\u2019s 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Most PPL policies cover above ground storage tanks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CPL Coverage protects insureds for pollution conditions they may cause or exacerbate while performing work at a 3<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Products Pollution Liability\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Transportation Pollution Liability (TPL)<\/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 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.\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 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Environmental exposures include spills from storage tanks; Raw materials stored and utilized in large quantities;\u00a0 Wastewaters generated from cooling water;\u00a0and 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":[47,45],"class_list":["post-2805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-risk","tag-manufacturers","tag-metals","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805","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=2805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2806,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2805\/revisions\/2806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}