Environmental

The management of the Environment continues to receive ever increasing focus, which has been illustrated through greater and more onerous regulation, such as the European Environmental Liability Directive (ELD), requiring all of us to take on more responsibility and accountability for the way we act. Through this regulation, there is a new focus on preventing environmental damage to land, water and biodiversity, as well as a greater propensity for liability to be identified, subsequently leading to claims especially where there is damage to a third party. Ensuring that these types of claims are managed effectively is very important, not just to ensure the damage to environment is minimized, but also any potential cost to an insurer.

With some insurers and brokers seeing Environmental business increase by more than 50% in the past 12 months and the increased need to understand and to expertly manage Environmental claims, Merlin has developed and created a specialist team of 10 Adjusters with the technical knowledge and experience to ensure that whether first party, third party, commercial or household, the right solution and approach is used.
 

Provided on a national UK basis including Northern Ireland each claim is dealt with by a specially trained environmental Adjuster who has been accredited by the UK Spill Association. Combined with their extensive experience they are supported through a team of experts including our own Claims Technicians as well as specialist contractors and consultants who use the latest and most advanced techniques, which enables a full range of services to be seamlessly combined to offer a market leading service. By having experts handling these claims it supports our belief that by making the right decision as early as possible and proactively managing the issues this will guide the best possible outcome and limit liability. In addition to this where remedial work is required this is project managed throughout ensuring the issues are effectively resolved, helping reduced lifecycle and cost as well as the impact on the policyholder and any other third parties.
 

Areas of expertise of the Environmental Claims Team include:

• Chemical/oil and complex hydrocarbon spills
  • Domestic
  • Commercial
  • Industrial
• Asbestos Pollution
• Industrial Brownfield site remediation
• Petro-chemical site decontamination
• Air-borne particulate pollution/remediation
• Groundwater pollution/leaching - with Surveyor/Engineer expertise in:
  • Water table fluctuations
  • Soil Mechanics
  • Hydro geological investigations

Merlin’s Environmental Claims Team, who work in close conjunction with Merlin Surveying Services and Merlin Major & Complex Loss with their acknowledged construction and Insurance industry expertise, are at the forefront of the market, offering a service that can be tailored to meet specific requirements to ensure that each and every environmental claim we handle is managed professionally and resolved effectively using the latest technology and techniques to mitigate both the environmental damage and as a consequence Insurers overall liability.