The exclusion on your general liability is the reason this exists.
Contractors pollution liability covers bodily injury, property damage and clean-up caused by a pollutant released by your work — the claims a general liability policy excludes by default.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What contractors pollution liability businesses actually need.
Chemical drift and overspray
Damage caused when a herbicide or pesticide lands somewhere it was not meant to.
Without it — A spray that drifts onto a neighbour’s ornamentals, vegetable garden or koi pond is a property damage claim your GL excluded before you opened the truck.
Run-off and soil contamination
Fertiliser, fuel or chemical reaching soil, storm drains or groundwater.
Without it — Clean-up is ordered by a regulator, priced by a remediation contractor, and owed whether or not anyone sued you.
Fuel and fluid spills
Hydraulic, diesel and oil releases from equipment on a customer’s property.
Without it — A split hydraulic line on a paver driveway is a clean-up bill, and the pollution exclusion reaches it too.
Clean-up costs
The remediation itself, which is not third-party damages and is separately excluded.
Without it — Even where liability is admitted, the cost of putting the ground back is the part nobody budgeted for.
Where contractors pollution liability shows up.
- Contractor
A vented refrigerant charge, a fuel spill or disturbed soil is a clean-up bill, and the pollution exclusion on your general liability reaches all three.
- Landscaping & Grounds Maintenance
Herbicide drift onto a neighbouring garden, fertiliser run-off into a storm drain, or a hydraulic line split on a paver driveway are all excluded by the pollution wording on a standard general liability policy.
- Tree Service & Arborist
Hydraulic and fuel releases from a bucket truck or grinder on a customer’s property are clean-up claims a general liability policy excludes.
- Pesticide & Herbicide Application
Drift, overspray and run-off are the losses this trade actually produces, and the pollution exclusion on a standard policy was written to remove exactly them.
- Irrigation & Sprinkler Contractors
Backflow into a potable supply and fuel or hydraulic release during trenching are contamination claims general liability excludes.
- Janitorial & Cleaning
A chemical spill, a fume complaint that empties a floor, or the wrong product on the wrong surface is excluded by the pollution wording on a standard policy.
- Directional Boring
A struck sewer main or a drilling-fluid frac-out is a contamination claim, and general liability excludes the clean-up that follows it.
- Tanker & Hazmat
A rollover that releases product is a clean-up bill owed to a regulator, and standard liability wording excludes it.
- Dump Truck & Aggregate Hauling
Hauling contaminated spoil, or spilling material into a watercourse, is a clean-up claim liability excludes.
- Hardscape & Retaining Walls
Disturbed soil, silt run-off into a storm drain and fuel spills on a customer’s property are excluded by general liability.
- Pressure & Soft Washing
Run-off carrying detergent, chlorine or removed coating into a storm drain is a pollution claim general liability excludes.
- Roofing Contractors
Tear-off can disturb asbestos, and hot tar and solvent are releases a general liability policy excludes.
What contractors pollution liability operators ask us.
Does my general liability already cover a chemical spill?
Almost certainly not. The standard ISO general liability form carries a pollution exclusion, and most carriers that will write a chemical applicator attach a total pollution exclusion on top of it — which is broader still. Drift, overspray, run-off and contamination are the exact events those endorsements were written to remove. The fix is either a buy-back endorsement on the GL or a separate pollution policy, and which one you need depends on how much of your revenue is spraying.
I only spray a little. Do I still need it?
The exclusion does not scale with how often you spray — it applies to every application. A single drift claim on a neighbouring property does not become smaller because chemical work is ten per cent of your revenue. What changes with volume is the price and how hard the risk is to place, not whether the gap is there.
Is this the same as environmental liability?
Broadly the same family, different form. "Contractors pollution liability" is written around work you perform at somebody else’s site, which is the landscaper, applicator and excavation shape of the problem. Site pollution and storage tank policies cover premises you own. Ask which form is being quoted — the words are used loosely and the coverage is not.