Published by Darren Berg on Jan. 5, 2022. Updated Mar. 10. Read time: 5 min.
Construction projects face safety, insurance, and environmental risks. The page says pollution incidents are often overlooked until after they happen, and cleanup costs can be severe.
The page states that the project owner is responsible for incidents that occur during the project.
General contractors can be liable for property damage or bodily injury caused by their contracting operations. The page says they should vet subcontractors that are properly trained and insured.
Trade contractors and subcontractors can also be liable for pollution conditions. The page says indemnity agreements are often used to hold them accountable for their own work.
It describes indemnification as flowing from the bottom up: from trade contractor to project owner.
The page says contractors need adequate pollution liability insurance in addition to standard coverage such as general liability, auto, and workers compensation.
Contractors Pollution Liability coverage can include:
It also says pollution liability was covered under standard commercial general liability policies before the 1970s, but later became excluded in many cases.
The page says ACORD certificates often show pollution coverage only as a single line in the “Other” section. It argues that this makes it hard to tell whether a contractor has full pollution liability coverage or only a limited endorsement.
Some project owners and general contractors review certificates and request copies of policies to confirm minimum insurance requirements.
The page describes Certified Environmentally Responsible Contractor, or CERC, as a certification with best practices for identifying environmental risks and preventing pollution incidents.
Offsite construction can reduce environmental exposure by shifting work into controlled settings with repeatable processes and cleaner material handling. The page says this can help reduce on-site waste, limit spills, and improve schedule certainty.
The page says strong risk management helps contractors and owners identify pollution exposures early, tighten procurement standards, and prevent coverage gaps.
The page says insurance knowledge helps teams verify meaningful coverage, reduce owner exposure, and improve contract requirements.
Darren Berg is President of Environmental Risk Professionals LLC, an environmental consulting firm in Higley, Arizona.
He has over 22 years of experience in environmental consulting and has worked with Federal, State, and Private clients on:
He is the author of the white paper Managing Environmental Risk in the Construction Industry.