Whatcom County road in Lynden, Washington, was stained bright red the evening of July 10 when about 100 trays of raspberries from Enfield Farms spilled from a truck. An entire lane was blocked for nearly two hours while locals jumped in to help with the cleanup.
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“Though seemingly innocuous, thousands of berries didn’t belong at that intersection,” said Karim Jaroudi, Manager, Environmental, Burns & Wilcox, Toronto, Ontario. “We always remind our brokers that anything that enters the environment — including subsurface, bodies of water or into the air — that does not belong there and/or is in significant quantity, is something that needs to be remediated and is considered a pollutant or contaminant. An Environmental Insurance policy would cover the cleanup.”
In this case, it was fortunate that the raspberries did not get into the sewer or waterways, which would have been a larger environmental cleanup, said Gina Jones, Vice President, Director, Environmental Programs, Burns & Wilcox, Denver, Colorado.
We always remind our brokers that anything that enters the environment — including subsurface, bodies of water or into the air — that does not belong there and/or is in significant quantity, is something that needs to be remediated and is considered a pollutant or contaminant.
Transportation Pollution Liability Insurance (TPL), which falls under Environmental Insurance, is needed to cover this type of situation, Jones emphasized, which covers cleanup costs, any bodily injury, property damage, and defense costs. TPL is often combined with a Contractors Pollution Liability policy, which provides coverage for pollution conditions at the job site, she said.
While companies transporting goods carry Auto Liability Insurance coverage and assume it’s sufficient, these policies typically exclude pollution coverage, cautioned Beth Linton, Vice President, Environmental Underwriting Solutions (EUS), a division of Burns & Wilcox. “A company needs to make sure they have the proper coverage to respond to a pollution event, and therefore, they need Transportation Pollution Liability Insurance.”
The heavy costs of spills
A recent OHS Canada Magazine report found that roughly three billion pounds of hazardous materials are transported throughout the U.S. each year. Overall, hazardous shipments and incidents have increased over the past decade by highway, rail and water.
A hazardous material spill took place in April of 2020 on a Massachusetts highway when a tractor-trailer transporting gasoline mixed with ethyl alcohol flipped after speeding through a roundabout, spilling onto the highway and into a saltwater marsh, according to a Department of Transportation report. The cost of the cleanup, loss of gasoline and tractor trailer damage was over $1.1 million.
A company needs to make sure they have the proper coverage to respond to a pollution event, and therefore, they need Transportation Pollution Liability Insurance.
In some cases, incidents involving spills result in companies being sued for damages. In November of last year, a $500,000 settlement was reached in a lawsuit when a truck crashed and caused a cleaning detergent to spill into a creek, killing thousands of fish, Fox News reported.
However, not all incidents involve seemingly hazardous chemicals. Jones recalls a major spill that occurred years ago when a tractor-trailer carrying milk overturned and spilled into a stream, killing fish and wildlife. “What we thought wasn’t going to be a big deal ended up well over a million-dollar loss,” Jones said.
TPL insurance not only covers cleanup costs, but natural resource damages that need to be restored, she added.
Environmental risks, hiring practices often overlooked
Companies dealing with food or beverage often fail to consider the fact that if their seemingly harmless products end up entering the environment where they might not naturally belong, or certainly not in a high volume, that could lead to very real environmental insurance repercussions. Jaroudi said possible outcomes could include cleanup/remediation, business interruptions, civil fines or bodily injury.
In May of 2024, a truck carrying hundreds of gallons of cooking oil crashed, leaking oil onto a road in Eau Claire, Washington. While the oil was contained, two people were taken to a hospital. Around the same time outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a truck transporting Miller High Life lost its balance, spilling cases of beer onto the road and causing extended lane closures. The driver of the truck was said to have suffered minor injuries and was treated following the incident.
In July of 2024, CTV News reported that Ontario Provincial Police found 20% of fatal collisions in the area involved transport trucks. 31 deaths within the jurisdiction were tied to speeding, improper passing, and driving dangerously close to other vehicles.
Hiring credentialed staff and taking precautions to secure your load is essential for companies that transport goods, Jaroudi said. “If you’re hiring a third party, make sure you’re hiring reputable people who have a good track record and who know how to move that particular stock,” he said.
‘The absence of loss does not mean absence of risk’
Jones recalls a client who let his TPL policy lapse, thinking he didn’t need the coverage because he hadn’t incurred a loss. “Two weeks later, his vehicle turned over and the dirty water he was hauling went everywhere. He faced a $10,000 cleanup — for a small contractor, it was a big deal. He bought that policy again.”
Clients often say they have never had a loss and don’t think they need to worry about it, so we often have to remind clients that the absence of loss doesn’t mean the absence of risk.
Jaroudi emphasized companies should seriously consider what they are handling, storing, and the quantity. “Consider the potential to enter the environment, in general, and consider the fact that if what you are transporting didn’t belong there, there may be action against the client to clean it up, at minimum. Don’t take it lightly,” he said.
Linton’s team at EUS specializes in environmental pollution liability placements nationwide. She emphasized the importance of having a broad TPL policy and said premiums have remained fairly steady as of late.
“Clients often say they have never had a loss and don’t think they need to worry about it, so we often have to remind clients that the absence of loss doesn’t mean the absence of risk,” Jones said. “It’s important for retail agents to have conversations with their clients and educate them.”
