Beazley Launches Two Environmental Insurance Products

The Connecticut-based Beazley Group announced the launch of its first two environmental insurance products “to meet the evolving needs of the environmental services industry.”

The Company, a subsidiary of the Beazley group, which is headquartered in London, has built a strong presence in U.S. professional liability coverage for architects and engineers – its “A&E Media Tech.”

The new coverage builds on that experience and will offer “two versions of the ENVIRO Media Tech form on a non-admitted basis: Environmental & Professional Liability and Environmental Liability Protection.”

Beazley said the “target market for both products is engineering, consulting, project management and contracting/remediation firms that provide environmental services. However, the two products address liability exposures for firms of varying size.”

The Company gave the following details:
— The Environmental & Professional Liability product focuses on larger privately held firms with revenues of up to $100 million. It provides professional liability protection that covers professional services (including media, technology and cyber-security risks arising from consulting, engineering and design activities) along with environmental protection that covers contracting operations, premises, transportation and disposal activities.

— In addition to offering similar protections, the Environmental Liability Protection policy includes commercial general liability coverage for firms seeking a comprehensive solution to address operational, environmental and professional risks in one policy. This product targets environmental and engineering services firms with revenues under $10 million.

John Beauchamp, a senior underwriter at Beazley who leads the group’s environmental unit, explained: “We have designed these products carefully to address two major trends that have influenced demand for the services that these firms provide and for the risks that they run.

“The first is changing methods for delivering remediation and redevelopment projects. Fixed price remediation contracts and other delivery methods continue to alter the level of responsibility environmental professionals bear for projects.

“The second trend is the increasing use of technology by environmental firms, which brings with it new exposures – for example, the loss or corruption of electronically transmitted data.”