There are coverage and service changes taking effect in 2018 for PennPRIME and we thought we would share some of them with you now.

Coverage Changes in the PennPRIME Liability Trust

Limited General Liability Coverage for Named Pollutants: Many may not know off hand that chlorine and other hazardous chemicals used at both water treatment and waste water treatment plants are considered pollutants and commonly exempt from coverage in many insurance policies [including the current PennPRIME General Liability (GL) coverage]. However, beginning in 2018, the PennPRIME Board of Trustees has approved adding limited GL coverage for events involving chlorine, sodium hypochlorite, or other water treatment chemicals used in your sewage, water treatment, or swimming pool operations, by exception to the current Pollutant exclusion. The proposed changes to the PennPRIME Trust Coverage Document also include limited GL coverage for Road Salt, Sand, Anti‐Skid and similar materials; and run-off from Fire‐Fighting or Emergency Response Services, also by exception to the current Pollutant exclusion.

Crisis Management Coverage: Many elected officials have been there. You are placed in a situation where your municipal entity has been involved in an incident where the potential for legal action against one of your elected officials, or maybe even yourself, and the municipal entity is a possibility. The media circles and the question arises as to how to handle it. While the cost of having a crisis management firm contracted by the Member would be extremely high, PennPRIME’s 2018 Public Officials Liability Coverage, provided by XL, will now include crisis management assistance. But before you or your municipal entity get in one of these situations, it’s probably a good idea to carefully read those actions that need to be taken before this cost will be covered.

Members will receive their 2018 Coverage Document in January.

Service Change in both PennPRIME Trusts

Knowing the cause of a claim can, in many cases, help eliminate future claims of the same genre. By eliminating the catalyst for the claim, they are less likely to happen again, or at the very least the frequency and severity of another claim can be lessened.

We appreciate the work done by our Property, Liability and Workers’ Compensation Trust Members in claims investigations, but sometimes it’s beneficial to go deeper into the cause. To help identify causation of a claim, our new Claims Coordinator, Angela Tennis (see related Welcome New Board and Staff Members article) will, on a case-by-case basis, conduct investigations to determine the root causes for significant or recurring accidents by individual Members. By teaming up with our Members on these investigations, we all can benefit from fewer claims.

If you have any questions regarding these coverage and service enhancements, feel free to contact Bob Anspach, ranspach@pml.org or (800) 848-2040 x*238.