Asbestos Abatement Problems

Any asbestos abatement process carries with it some hazards to health. The process of asbestos removal often involves heavy demolition as well as complex area isolation and air engineering procedures. If not planned, monitored and performed correctly, asbestos abatement can spread significant amounts of airborne asbestos contamination throughout a building. The owner of the building or persons who visit or re-occupy such a contaminated building may later seek legal redress against the contractor (among other entities) who is alleged to be responsible for injuries ultimately related to the asbestos abatement work. When the asbestos abatement contractor is sued for causing bodily injury and property damage, he or she should not look to the CGL form and expect to find automatic coverage; this is mainly because of the pollution exclusion.

The pollution exclusion applies to bodily injury or property damage arising out of the release or discharge or escape of pollutants at or from any premises or location on which any insured is performing operations. This exclusion is applicable if the operations of the insured are to test for or clean up or remove or in any way respond to or assess the effects of pollutants. Obviously, the contractor is performing the operations for just such a purpose so an insurer could justify a denial of coverage based on the pollution exclusion. Note that this scenario would be followed if the injury or damage occurred while the insured is performing the asbestos abatement. What would happen if the damages occurred after the insured has completed his work, that is, a completed operations claim?

If the claim is a completed operations claim, the pollution exclusion on the CGL form does not totally exclude coverage. For example: the insured provides an asbestos abatement operation; and, after completion of the work, someone claims injuries or damages as a result of some asbestos particles that the insured's operations caused to eventually float around the building. In such a case, it can be argued that the pollution exclusion does not apply.

On the other hand, part of the pollution exclusion applies to the escape of pollutants that are or were at any time handled, treated, or disposed of as waste by the insured. One can argue: that asbestos is waste; the insured did handle it; and that this handling of the asbestos caused the injuries and damages. Therefore, the pollution exclusion does apply and the insured is left with no coverage.

In order to avoid such conflicts, it would be better for the insured contractor to assure some liability coverage through the use of asbestos abatement liability policies.

Asbestos Abatement Coverage

While insurance is always an important consideration in the building-related trades, it is particularly important when asbestos is involved because of the uncertainty of coverage under a CGL form. Asbestos abatement coverage is available as a specialty lines coverage written for those engaged in that type of work, whether it be consultants, engineers, contractors, or even building owners.

As a specialty lines item, an asbestos abatement liability policy varies in its wording depending on the particular insurer that writes the policy. However, the bottom line is that asbestos abatement liability policies apply to bodily injury or property damage arising out of the removal of asbestos by the insured from scheduled locations during the policy period.