Environmental Consulting Insurance
(Finding the right coverage has never been easier)
Written by
Jessica Huneck is an insurance writer from TrustedChoice.com. She began her writing career in 2011 and has since earned herself a bachelor's degree in English writing.
Environmental consultants deal with complex issues and provide advice and other services to clients who rely upon their expertise to make decisions.
Businesses engaged in this type of work need to assess any hazards that arise in their day-to-day operations and should work with an independent insurance agent to find tailored environmental consultant insurance that meets their unique needs.
The environmental services industry includes businesses that provide advice and assistance to other businesses and entities (e.g., government agencies, municipalities, etc.) on environmental issues.
They may evaluate and offer expertise on control of pollutants, toxic substances and hazardous materials by measuring and evaluating risks within buildings or at other sites and then recommending solutions.
Environmental consulting firms may employ scientists, engineers and other experts in air and water quality, asbestos contamination, remediation and environmental law.
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Coverage Overview for Environmental Consultants
Environmental consultants need business insurance to protect them from the costs of lawsuits, accidents, equipment damage and other unforeseen events that can be financially devastating to a business owner. These companies face numerous risks including these:
- Physical harm to employees or customers
- Accidents while driving a business auto
- On-site accidents
- Equipment and property damage
- Lawsuits from unsatisfied clients
Many of these risks can be mitigated with a comprehensive business insurance portfolio that includes tailored environmental consultant insurance.
- Commercial property insurance protects environmental consultants from the costs associated with physical damage to equipment and property at their business premises. This type of coverage reimburses you if your building and its contents are damaged or destroyed by fire, smoke, hail, wind, vandalism, theft and other unforeseen causes of loss.
- Commercial property policies may also include coverage for business interruption, which helps you pay for continued expenses if you cannot operate for a period of time after a covered loss.
- Commercial general liability is an essential business insurance policy for any business owner. It protects you if you or an employee damages another person’s property or injures a third party. It covers the costs associated with lawsuits, including your legal defense, court costs, settlements and judgments.
- Inland marine insurance is important for any firm that transports expensive equipment in order to do its job. If you transport equipment from project to project, you need coverage for that equipment while it is not on your business premises. Inland marine coverage protects tools, equipment and supplies that you bring off-site; commercial property and commercial auto policies typically exclude coverage for those items once they leave your business premises.
Environmental Consultant Professional Liability Insurance
Mistaken calculations, equipment malfunctions, erroneous analyses and advice, and any number of seemingly small errors can have a lasting impact on your clients and even on an entire community.
Environmental consultants professional liability insurance protects individual consultants and your firm from lawsuits that arise from negligence and mistakes related to performing — or failing to perform — professional services.
If you are sued, your legal defense, court costs and attorney fees are your responsibility even if the lawsuit is unfounded. If you are found liable for damages, you may also have to pay settlements or court-ordered judgments.
Your professional liability policy covers most of these costs and protects you from the financial devastation that just one lawsuit can bring.
What Does Professional Liability Insurance Cover?
Your professional liability policy should be tailored to your unique exposures; a one-size-fits-all approach is not sufficient. Most professional liability policies can be written to address the specific risks that any business faces, with exceptions. In general, it provides coverage in these cases:
- Actual or alleged errors
- Omissions
- Professional negligence
- Breach of duty
- Misleading statements
- Claims resulting from the performance — or nonperformance — of professional services
Coverage is excluded for instances of intentional wrongdoing or illegal acts.
Talk to Your Agent About Other Coverage
Environmental consultants might need a variety of other business insurance policies to complete their portfolio.
- Workers’ compensation insurance is typically required for any business that has employees, and pays for lost income and medical expenses for employees that are injured on the job.
- Employment practices liability coverage protects you from employee lawsuits related to discrimination and other employment-related business practices.
- Business auto insurance covers your company’s vehicles and drivers (cars, SUVs, vans and trucks) that are damaged or injured in a collision or some other type of event. If your employees drive personal vehicles for business purposes, you must have nonowned or hired auto liability coverage to protect your company from accident-related costs.
- Commercial umbrella insurance provides excess liability protection to any of several other policies you might have, including commercial general liability, employer’s liability, and hired and nonowned auto liability. By purchasing one commercial umbrella policy, you essentially get higher limits on all of those policies rather than having to raise the limits on each policy individually. Commercial umbrella insurance takes over when the limits of your other applicable insurance policies have been exhausted, protecting you in the event that a claim exceeds the amount of coverage available from any other applicable policy.
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Environmental Consultants Need Tailored Business Insurance Solutions
A firm like yours faces complex risks that are highly unique. Rather than settle for cookie-cutter coverage that can leave you with gaps, enlist the help of an agent, who can help you find the right solutions from reputable insurance companies.
An independent agent will get to know your business and will search for solutions that fit your business, not ones that fit everyone else's. You can easily find a local agent, who will become a long-term adviser and partner in your success.