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Environmental Liability > Facts

Interesting facts about contamination

Don't let the past come back to haunt you. Business that have never caused any contamination (nor are ever likely to) are now faced with potentially devastating environmental exposures, lasting well into the future.

Why is that? Here are some facts about contamination…

• Conventional liability insurance does not cover gradual contamination.
  Cover is usually restricted to sudden and accidental events - contamination is usually gradual.
  
  
• No one knows for sure how much land is contaminated in the UK - but it's a lot. Estimates vary from 50,000 locations upwards. We have inherited a legacy of contamination from our industrial past when spilling, leaking or dumping wastes were not given a second thought.
  
  
• The Government is doing something about this and has changed the law.
  Now, if the people responsible for causing the contamination in the first place can't be found, the current owner or occupier has responsibility for cleaning up the site.
  
  
• It can be difficult finding out who is responsible.
  Finding who caused the mess in the first place is not always easy - maybe it was caused over 100 years ago (from say a mine or a foundry), or maybe the firm doesn't exist anymore.
  
  
• All of which increases the risk of owning or renting land.
  So anyone who owns or occupies land (even if they had nothing whatsoever to do with the contamination) runs the risk of having to clean up someone else's mess.
  
  
• Often you just don't know it's there, and maybe it wasn't - but it could be one day.
  Contamination spreads across boundaries. It sinks underground, travels via groundwater or through faults in the ground, contaminating groundwater or other properties.
  
  
• Sometimes you discover it by chance.
  Such as a surveyor, or during construction when you're developing your premises, or maybe someone next door discovers contamination that has spread from your property.
  
  
• Sometimes you may receive expert help in discovering it.
  Local Authorities now have key roles in making sure that their areas are inspected for contamination.
  
  
• Once you have it though, it can be extremely expensive.
  Clean up costs can run into millions. And the work involved (like major excavations, pumping, water treatments or bio-remediation) can be very lengthy and highly disruptive to ongoing business operations.
  
  
• Enforcement is rigorous.
  The Local Authorities can (and do) issue legally enforceable remediation notices. And the Environment Agency can (and does) hand out fines, prosecute and imprison company directors and close businesses down. (D&O insurance is unlikely to cover this - although our Pollution Legal Liability will.)
  
  
• All this does nothing for a business's reputation.
  Protecting our environment is a very delicate and emotive issue, and one to which the media is highly sensitive. So for a business charged with causing contamination, the impact on customers, potential customers, investors and staff is extremely negative.

Remember:

Conventional liability insurance does not cover gradual contamination.

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