RT Specialty’s Book of Business Reveals Environmental and Pollution-related Claims Trends

Hamilton, NJ…  The Environmental and Construction Professional Practice (RT ECP) of RT Specialty recently surveyed its book of business for several of its environmental and pollution-related insurance lines to determine the leading causes of claims from 2020 to 2021. The analysis revealed that the highest percentage of these claims were experienced by the healthcare, oil & gas, property management and habitational fields and predominantly pertained to COVID, indoor air quality, chemical spills and leaks, and structure disturbance issues. 

“We studied our book of insureds to not only better understand the marketplace, but to also provide agents, brokers and their clients with the knowledge and insights which may be helpful to make informed strategic risk management decisions,” says Jeff Slivka, president of RT ECP. “The fact is information like this has never been more important. The coronavirus impacted businesses nationwide and this was in addition to the typical environmental issues that can undermine the timely completion of almost any project as well as the financial viability of everyone involved.”

Designed to facilitate contaminated property transactions and buoy the balance sheets of large real estate assets, Pollution Legal Liability (PLL) insurance is a claims-made coverage that typically helps cover the on- and off-site cleanup of contaminated sites; remediation and defense expenses; third-party bodily injuries; and property damage. RT ECP recently reviewed its PLL book of business to identify the environmental claims and causes produced over the past two years. Of these, 23% of the claims were recorded within the healthcare industry. This was followed by the property management field at 18% and the oil & gas industry at 11%. As for the causes, COVID was led at 36%. This was then followed by indoor air quality/microbial matter/mold/bacteria at 31% and spills/onsite leaks at 24%.

Contractor’s Pollution Liability (CPL) policies are written to help protect insureds against the pollution conditions resulting from the covered contracting operations performed by or on behalf of the named insureds. In 2020 and 2021, the highest percentage of claims on RT ECP’s book of business were made within the habitational (34%) industry and then the commercial office, educational, heavy highway, and religious fields, which all individually posted 8% of the claims. The highest percentage of causes were related to compromised air quality (30%), chemical/product/waste spills/project site leaks (23%) and the disturbance of existing structures (20%). 

For more information on this analysis or RT ECP, please visit https://rtspecialty.com/product/environmental-construction-professional-liability/ or 609-298-3516.