Insurance designed to provide protection for the liability exposures that may result from damage, injury and, in some cases, cleanup costs caused by pollution. This coverage is excluded in the standard CGL, and the attempt has been to make the CGL exclusion as broad or absolute as possible.

Public liability insurance covers sudden and unexpected incidents that take place during the insured period. Although this protects against one-off accidents, it excludes any claim as a result of a gradual operating cause, e.g. slow leakage.