{"id":2813,"date":"2022-05-16T21:59:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T21:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estrategist.com\/website\/members\/?p=2813"},"modified":"2022-05-16T21:59:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T21:59:06","slug":"trucking-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/trucking-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Trucking Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is a Pollutant?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Many trucking companies assume that claims arising from their operations are covered by their general liability policy or commercial auto policy. However, claims resulting from a \u201cpollution incident\u201d are typically excluded from general liability and commercial auto policies (except for fluids necessary to operate a vehicle). Policies that do provide pollution coverage, typically do so on a limited basis and with inadequate limits, which leaves trucking companies exposed to potentially uncovered claims. What pollutants are impacting your business?<\/span><\/p>\n

Environmental Exposures Impacting Trucking Companies\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

May include, but are not limited to<\/b>:\u00a0 Leaking fuel and waste oil storage tanks;\u00a0 PFAS Chemicals; Storm water runoff;\u00a0 Vapor intrusion;\u00a0 Loading and unloading of cargo;\u00a0 Parking equipment over unsealed surfaces allowing contaminants such as oil, fuel, anti-freeze, hydraulic fluids, asbestos\u2026 to pollute the ground & ground water;\u00a0 Pollution liabilities that occur while transporting cargo;\u00a0 Air Emissions from idling equipment;\u00a0 Pollution cleanup and liabilities that occur after a fire;\u00a0 Parts cleaning solvents;\u00a0 Accumulated old batteries which contain leached acidic liquids;\u00a0 Accumulated old tires and equipment;\u00a0 Unsealed truck ramps;\u00a0 Warehousing environmentally sensitive cargo;\u00a0 Contaminants flowing from service bays into the sanitary sewers, ground, neighboring properties;\u00a0 Paint residues from the body shop;\u00a0 Wash waters from truck wash;\u00a0 Inadequate or no auditing of hazardous and non-hazardous waste handlers, transporter and disposal companies;\u00a0 Poor information on the possible adverse reactions and interactions of chemical compounds that accidentally commingle during a fire\u2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Environmental Claims Scenarios<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A carrier had wash water and other cleaning solvents from their wash bay released into the soil and ground water after a pipe broke.\u00a0 The break was not detected for several months.\u00a0 Cost to remediate the soil and ground water was in excess of $175,000.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. A waste hauler was hired to transport its used motor oil. The waste hauler got into an accident which caused the contents of the tanker to be released on the ground.\u00a0 Under Federal law (CERCLA) you own your waste from cradle to grave, so the carrier had to pay their apportionment of the remediation costs which totaled $450,000.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. A carrier performed loading and unloading of equipment over unsealed truck ramps.\u00a0 Over a period of several years, ground water became contaminated from pollutants that were released from idling trucks and storm water runoff.\u00a0 Since the ground water was the only source of drinking water for surrounding residents and the state environmental regulatory agency designated the transportation company as the responsible party.\u00a0 The carrier paid $1,400,000 in cleanup costs and supply suitable drinking water until the local municipality could extend water services out to the surrounding residents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. A delivery truck got into an accident and caught on fire.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. The concrete secondary containment of a 10,000-gallon diesel aboveground storage tank was cracked. A release from the tank spilled 2,000 gallons into the containment. The diesel seeped into the underlying soils.\u00a0 Total cost for investigation, removal and disposal exceeded $200,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. While transferring hazardous materials from one truck to another, a forklift operator cut a corner too tight causing the load to shift and spill.\u00a0 Cost to clean up exceeded $85,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. A milk delivery truck got into an accident, causing thousands of gallons of milk to escape from the tank and flow into a nearby stream. The milk depleted oxygen in the area of the stream, causing a notable fish kill.\u00a0 Total cost of remediation and natural resource damages cost the trucking company over $75,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Benefits of Environmental Liability Insurance\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Unlike most liability exposures impacting trucking companies, pollution losses are not a frequency risk, but rather a severity risk. Since every trucking 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

    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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Overlooked Benefits<\/b> of Environmental Liability Insurance:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Defense Costs<\/b>:<\/b>\u00a0 Environmental liabilities are relatively new & very litigious.\u00a0 Even if you do nothing wrong you can still get named in a suit and must expense defense costs (legal fees, environmental investigations, etc.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Claim Management<\/b>:<\/b>\u00a0 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
    3. Third Party Liability<\/b>:<\/b>\u00a0 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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Environmental Liability Insurance for Trucking Companies\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

      Transportation Pollution Liability (TPL)<\/b><\/p>\n

      Generally, Business Auto or Truckers policies will exclude pollution losses arising from spills or other releases of their 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 Make sure you do not confuse the MCS-90 endorsement as being TPL coverage, it\u2019s not, and the insurance carrier reserves the right to subrogate back against the insured for cost to clean up a release of the transported cargo.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL)\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

      EIL is for transportation companies susceptible to economic loss caused by pollution that actually or allegedly originated from their fixed site operations.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Most EIL policies cover above ground storage tanks.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Contractors Pollution Liability\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

      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

      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, asbestos, defense outside the limits, off-site disposal coverage \u2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Underground Storage Tanks\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

      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

      Property Transfer Coverage\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

      When buying or selling property there can be unknown preexisting environmental conditions. Since a Phase I or Phase II 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Property transfer coverage assists to keep the property at its maximum value while allowing the insured to negotiate more favorable loan terms than property not supported by this coverage.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Environmental exposures include pollution liabilities that occur while transporting cargo;\u00a0Accumulated old tires, batteries, equipment;\u00a0 Warehousing environmentally sensitive cargo;\u00a0<\/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":[120],"class_list":["post-2813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-risk","tag-transportation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813","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=2813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2814,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions\/2814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}