A pollution legal liability insurance policy (PLL) is one of the best ways for your company to combat the growing challenges of pollution liability in the current landscape, especially if it’s involved with waste hauling activities or waste treatment activities. Air pollution alone can be linked to seven million premature deaths yearly.
Going further, air pollution has contributed to 12% of deaths yearly. Human exposure to pollution is one of the most contributing factors to disease. It’s estimated that more than 9 million premature deaths occur yearly when accounting for all forms of pollution.
It’s troublesome if you own a business that handles hazardous waste such as a water treatment plant or a garbage collection business. If your company is found to be liable for the pollution, you may have to suffer the costs of third-party injury or property damage. This article will examine the details around common queries and comparisons surrounding PLL insurance, including:
Definition of pollution legal liability insurance
Pollution legal liability vs contractor’s pollution insurance
Target business lines for PLL insurance
Why you need pollution legal liability insurance
Pollution legal liability policy is a type of insurance that grants protection against claims when business operations result in accidental chemical spills, chemical discharge, debris exposure, and environmental risks.. Many policies also cover cleanup costs from pollution spills on work sites or facilities.
PLL insurance policy covers environmental risk for owners, operators, and developers in virtually every industry. It covers those that own, lease, acquire, or divest real estate where hazardous storage, generators, or materials are used. PLL environmental insurance terms vary between five and ten years for operational coverage, while the coverage for healthcare risks generally has an average term of three years.
Pollution legal liability insurance is separate from another type of similar insurance called contractors' pollution liability insurance (CPL). The differences in Contractors' pollution liability insurance include things like:
Contractors need extra coverage from general liability policies, leading to them needing their own separate coverage to cover the liability.
CPL covers pollution conditions resulting directly from contractors' work and work performed by subcontractors
Chemical spills at job sites
Transporting hazardous materials
Collision in transit of transportation
Inappropriate disposal of hazardous material
Pll insurance covers various costs from pollution events or conditions that occur from a covered location. It covers liability for things like:
Indoor air quality
Fire
Chemical spills
Onsite hazardous materials
Third-party injury or illness
Property damage
Cleanup costs
The target business lines for pollution legal liability coverage are those in every industry. Some examples include:
Manufacturing facilities
Power plants
Construction companies
Hotels
Farms
Mining
You will want pll insurance if you need protection from cleanup costs and tort liability from any pollution on the site of your business. The coverage extends to any current operations or operations that occurred before or after you started doing business.
It is a good idea to purchase a pollution legal liability insurance policy because it gives you extra protection that general liability policies may not cover. The coverage limits for pollution legal liability are typically much higher and more inclusive.
A situation where you might use pollution liability is if an industrial machine malfunction, causing excessive air or water pollution. If the air or water quality is greatly affected, it might cause sickness in others and need to be cleaned. Pll coverage would really save you by helping cover costs from things like medical bills from those affected, as well as cleanup costs.
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PLL insurance coverage limits will vary based on a company's annual revenue. Here is a breakdown of how much coverage a company needs based on its annual revenue:
| Revenue of Company | Coverage Limit |
|---|---|
| Less than $10 million | $1 million |
| Between $10 and $25 million | $2 million |
| Between $25 and $50 million | $2-5 million |
| Between $50 and $100 million | $5 million |
| Between $100 and $250 million | $5-10 million |
| Between $250 and $500 million | $10-25 million |
| Between $500 million and $1 billion | $25 million |
| Over $1 billion | $25 million+ |
The average pollution legal liability insurance cost is $103 per month or $1,236 per year for a $1 million worth of coverage. Your actual rates might be the same or different based on location, coverage limits, deductibles, and other factors. See the table below to find out how the top PLL insurance companies stack up against each other:
| Company | Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hartford | $83 | $996 | Policy options |
| Tivly | $83 | $996 | Comparison shopping |
| Berry Insurance | $85 | $1,020 | Resources |
| Marsh | $104 | $1,248 | Claim management |
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The best companies for PLL insurance coverage offer ways to ensure that pollution doesn't drain your business's expense account through the legal risks of operating or owning a facility or work site. See our rankings below to find the best insurance policy for you!
File online
Excellent customer ratings
Different policy options
The quote process could be quicker
The Hartford offers an excellent variety of pll insurance options. They have contractors' pollution liability, site pollution liability, and integrated casualty liability that allow you to combine policy options to get a full suite of pollution coverage. These policies will cover things like environmental damage, property damage, and bodily injury from incidents on, under, or migrating the insured site.
The Hartford as an impeccable reputation, having an A+ rating from AM Best for their financials. They wrote over $11 billion in direct premiums in 2022 and have served over one million small businesses. Their experience in the insurance industry allows them to offer insurance policies that cover all the bases.
Best for: Policy options
Average cost: $83 per month
Our rating: 10/10
Over 200 partners
Quick quotes to compare rates
Not an insurance provider
Tivly is one of the premier insurance marketplaces for a range of different industries. They have over 200 partners to choose coverage from. One of their partners is The Hartford, so you are guaranteed to get a competitive PLL insurance policy. Call now and talk with a representative to get quotes.
This company has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau, having been accredited since 2010. Tivly brings 20 years of experience to the table and can offer policies that cover cleanup costs, legal defense, property transfer, and completed operations.
Best for: Comparison shopping
Average cost: $83 per month
Our rating: 10/10
High claim clear rate
Risk-management focused
PLL coverage isn’t very flexible
Marsh has a lot of experience dealing with insurance claims and has dedicated teams to getting yours resolved. They handle more than 500 claims annually and have helped with more than 2,500 claims in the past few years.
Their PLL policy boasts legal defense and environmental consulting costs, liability for improperly disposed of waste material, and business interruption caused by pollution as well.
Best for: Claim management
Average cost: $104 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Learning Center for new policyholders
Nice policy options
No online quotes
Berry Insurance has an excellent selection of different PLl insurance policies. They offer standard PLL, as well as contractor environmental liability, transporter insurance, and storage tank pollution liability insurance. Between all these options, you have plenty of opportunities to cover the cost gap that other types of insurance won’t cover for pollutants.
This company has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. And has been rated since 2008. Berry has over 63 years of experience and delivers protection with a small business touch. They offer personalized service and have many different industry and insurance options in one place.
Best for: Resources
Average cost: $85 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Use anyone except Employers. Period. They are non-transparent and shameful. After I complained long enough to warrant a call from a supervisor, the supervisor called back from a PRIVATE NUMBER (no caller ID), left a message that they are not reversing their decision (without any communication with me), and failed to leave a phone number for me to call back. She was hiding! They also fact find via email and phone calls, which is terrific for speed and communication. However, after setting a precedence of email or phone calls, they send time sensitive information via email, without any heads up... they are hoping you miss it and forfeit via expiration. Evil policies. Go elsewhere.
This place is an absolute joke of a company and should be ashamed of the way they conduct business. I was hurt on the job at the end of July and it took them just shy of 7 weeks to issue out a paycheck to me. Yes the amount was back dated but still. Not many have the luxury of not receiving a paycheck for almost 2 months. To top it all off, the original adjuster marked me down for the wrong state which caused a problem from the get go, I've had 3 different adjusters now since each one can't seem to figure out the simplicity of my claim. All my paperwork which includes, my job, house, and drs visits all are from the same state and city but yet some how I have been filed under a completely different state 1500 miles away. They do not answer your phone calls or emails no matter how many you leave. I've had to escalate my frustrations to the supervisors of each of these individuals in order to even get some kind of response. I've had more communication and information given to me about my claim from the customer service representatives then the actual adjusters.......... please tell me how that works?! A serious overhaul needs to happen here in order to serve your clients the way they deserve to be taken care of. 10/10 do not recommend this company to a single soul on earth
I have never had the displeasure of working with a more incompetent and disrespectful person in my life. I’m an injured worker and the adjuster that was assigned to my case was named Carrie Furgeson. In the past 6 weeks that I’ve been injured and out of work I have only been able to get ahold of her twice, not for lack of trying. I have left countless voicemails, countless emails, and she ignores them all. When I am finally able to get ahold of her I’m greeted with terrible customer service. She is rude, she talks over me and I’m hardly able to get a word in edgewise. She spelled my name wrong on my documents even after I spelled it for her properly countless times, this caused a whole new issue with my bank. I have bill collectors from the hospital calling me demanding payment and Carrie Furgeson won’t do a single thing to help, or to get them paid. All of my documentation is in Colorado, my job is in Colorado, my address is in Colorado, all my Dr offices and appointments have been in Colorado and Carrie still managed to hold my claim because she wasn’t sure what state she needed to file it under. It’s been 6 weeks since my Injury and my company still hasn’t received the wage paperwork to fill out so they can get me my correct wages. When she’s not ignoring me she’s answering my questions with “I don’t know” well I don’t know how she got this job, because apparently she doesn’t know anything about it. She is a disgusting morose individual inside and out and I genuinely wish her the worst in all of her future endeavors. I highly recommend you don’t use this company. Please if you are a business owner and your looking into this company please don’t use them. I’m sure they have the cheapest payment and that’s why companies use them in the first place, but you will be doing your employees a grave disservice by forcing them to venture into this absolute dumpster fire of a company. I would rate 0/5 if possible but 1 was the lowest I was allowed.
Their general liability insurance purchase process is simply the best online experience I've ever had in my life!
As long as they cover your line of business, you're literally covered! best rates, best coverage, best online experience, best professionals, can't be happier that I chose them!
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