Northbridge, Federated and Chubb publish details of pollution coverage for business premises in Canada. Markel Canada’s reviewed environmental-liability page describes Contractors Pollution Liability; its site menu also lists a premises pollution product, but the reviewed page gives no premises details.[3][4][5][6] 
Premises pollution coverage addresses releases at, on, under or migrating from an owned or leased location. Depending on the wording, it may cover first-party cleanup, emergency response and business interruption, as well as third-party cleanup costs, property damage and bodily injury.[3][6] Northbridge and Federated say standard commercial general liability and property policies usually exclude environmental damage, so check the wording of each existing policy.[3][6]
Why the legal exposure matters in Canada
Federal law can place cleanup costs on whoever controls a substance, regardless of fault. Under Part 8 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), when an environmental emergency involves a substance listed under the environmental emergency regulations, the person who owns or has charge, management or control of it, or who causes or contributes to the emergency, must notify an enforcement officer or other designated person, take reasonable emergency measures and make a reasonable effort to notify members of the public who may be affected.[1]
- Restoration and public costs: CEPA section 205 makes the person who owned or had charge, management or control of the substance immediately before the emergency liable for restoring damaged parts of the environment and for reasonable costs incurred by public authorities and the federal Minister in responding.[1]
- No proof of fault required: That liability does not depend on proof of fault or negligence, although the Act provides limited defences.[1]
- Ship-source oil: Bunker oil released from ships falls under a separate regime: the Marine Liability Act sets out the Bunker Oil Pollution Convention, under which the shipowner is liable for pollution damage and the costs of preventive measures.[2] If your operations involve vessels, ask which marine policy responds before relying on a premises or transportation pollution form.[2][3]
Provincial environmental laws also apply and differ by province; ask a lawyer licensed in your province which obligations attach to your sites.
Compare premises pollution options
Each provider below is described by premises eligibility, disclosed coverage, and policy trigger or term. Confirm anything not listed through a broker, a quotation and the specimen wording.
Northbridge Insurance
- Premises eligibility: Published examples include property owners, auto dealers and repair garages, dry cleaners, fuel dealers, service stations, printers, manufacturers, wholesalers and equipment dealers.[3]
- Disclosed coverage: First-party business interruption, cleanup and emergency-response costs, plus third-party cleanup, property damage and bodily injury. Northbridge also offers contractors pollution coverage and optional transportation pollution coverage.[3]
- Trigger or term: Not stated on the public page; ask whether the form is occurrence-based or claims-made.[3]
Federated Insurance Company of Canada
- Premises eligibility: Published examples include auto dealers and repair garages, consumer-goods and machinery manufacturers, fuel dealers and service centres. Federated also lists contractor categories, so make sure the quote identifies premises rather than contractors coverage.[6]
- Disclosed coverage: Premises and contractors pollution coverage, with transportation pollution as an option. Listed premises benefits include business interruption, cleanup, emergency response, property damage and bodily injury.[6]
- Trigger or term: Not stated on the public page; ask for it in the quote.[6]
Chubb Canada
- Premises eligibility: Domestic organizations and Canada-based multinationals in target segments including commercial, industrial, manufacturing, chemical or petroleum storage, real estate, retail, healthcare, hospitality, warehousing and distribution.[5]
- Disclosed coverage: Sudden and accidental and gradual events, built-in emergency response costs, transportation, non-owned disposal sites, business interruption and delay expense, natural-resource damages, catastrophe-management costs and indoor environmental conditions. Blanket coverage for owned, operated, managed, leased or maintained locations may be available by endorsement, as may products pollution and off-site operations.[5]
- Trigger or term: Chubb identifies a Claims-Made and Reported coverage form, with annual or multiyear terms available.[5]
- Published minimums and capacity: Chubb lists a targeted minimum self-insured retention of $10,000, a targeted minimum premium of $5,000, and capacity up to $50 million per/aggregate limit, inclusive of legal defence costs.[5] These are Chubb’s published minimum underwriting targets and maximum capacity, not a quote for any business.[5]
Markel Canada
- Disclosed coverage: The reviewed page describes Contractors Pollution Liability for environmental impact caused by a contractor’s operations.[4]
- Premises option: Markel’s site menu lists premises pollution liability, but the reviewed page does not describe it; ask a broker for Markel’s premises wording before comparing.[4]
Pricing, limits and claims service
- Chubb: The only provider here that publishes figures: a $5,000 targeted minimum premium, a $10,000 targeted minimum self-insured retention and up to $50 million in capacity.[5] Your premium, retention and limit are set in the quote.
- Northbridge, Federated and Markel: No premiums or limits are published on the reviewed pages, so request them in each quote.[3][4][6]
- Claims service: Northbridge says its claims specialists can connect you with incident response and remediation experts.[3] Chubb describes a complimentary Environmental Incident Alert program for finding and dispatching incident response contractors and monitoring cleanup costs.[5] Neither page provides independent data on claims outcomes.
When to consider transportation pollution coverage
Transportation pollution concerns releases involving products or materials during loading, unloading, transport or delivery by the insured or a carrier acting for it.[3][6] Do not assume a premises policy covers these activities unless the quoted wording confirms it.
Northbridge and Federated offer transportation pollution as optional coverage with premises or contractors pollution policies.[3][6] Northbridge says its transportation coverage applies on a difference-in-condition basis when the activity is not covered by the primary automobile, marine, aviation or railroad protective-liability policy.[3] Chubb lists transportation among its premises policy features.[5]
For fuel delivery, waste removal, chemical shipments or materials carried in service vehicles, ask:
- Who is responsible for the material during loading, transit, delivery and unloading?
- Does the wording cover owned vehicles, hired carriers or both?
- Which automobile, marine, aviation, railroad or pollution policy responds first?
- Are any materials, destinations or disposal sites excluded or endorsement-only?
What to verify before binding coverage
- Policy trigger: Require the quote to state occurrence, claims-made or Claims-Made and Reported. For claims-made forms, request the retroactive date, reporting deadline and extended-reporting options.[5]
- Locations and events: Confirm every insured address and whether conditions at, on, under or migrating from each location are covered, including gradual releases, on-site cleanup, third-party injury and damage, emergency response and business interruption.[3][5][6]
- Regulatory costs: Ask whether the policy responds to cleanup and restoration ordered by, or cost-recovery claims from, federal or provincial authorities, given the owner liability set out in CEPA.[1]
- Pollutants and exclusions: Give the broker the substances, activities and indoor conditions at each site. Chubb lists fungi and Legionella under indoor environmental conditions, but confirm exclusions and endorsements in the proposed wording.[5]
- Contract requirements: Give the broker the actual lease, lender and customer insurance clauses and request a written comparison against the offered policy.
- Financial terms: Per-loss and aggregate limits, sublimits, deductible or self-insured retention, taxes, broker fees and premium-refund treatment.
- Cancellation and administration: Cancellation grounds, notice period, refund method, territorial scope and underwriting requirements, in writing.
Before binding, compare the quotation, specimen policy, schedules, endorsements and exclusions rather than relying on provider summaries. Chubb, for example, publishes its PPL specimen policy and application form.[5] References