Environmental damage insurance pays for the clean-up and remediation of contamination, including on your own site, which is exactly where a liability policy by definition never reaches.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
This is not a liability policy but a first-party policy. Payment does not depend on whether anyone made a mistake: as soon as an insured event causes contamination, the clean-up costs are met. Your public and employers' liability insurance works the other way round: it pays for third-party losses for which you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, and it does not cover the cleaning of your own soil.
Cover depends on an identifiable cause: fire, explosion, a lightning strike, storm, a collision, or a tank, pipe or storage vessel springing a leak. Contamination that has built up gradually over the years falls outside it. The policy is built up in sections: your own site, third-party sites where you carry out work, and sometimes the transport in between.
We arrange two things when the policy is taken out. The first is the baseline situation: whatever is already in the ground before the policy starts is excluded, so the insurer often asks for a soil survey. The second is how the policy fits with your AVB and, if you are building, with the Construction all risks (CAR) insurance, so that no gap opens up between those policies.
Environmental damage insurance through Allianz: what is covered?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Our role
Independent
We are not tied to any single company.
Several providers compared
Advice follows your situation
AFM licence 12016589
When taking out cover
What we do
From assessment to policy.
Matching cover to your work
Conditions side by side
Switching, including cancellation
After that
In the event of a claim
What really matters.
Notification and guidance
Assessing a rejection
Objection where necessary
What is covered
What we look at
Explanation
Does the cover suit your activities
Yes
Sum insured and excess
Yes
Exclusions and clauses
Yes
Fit with your other policies
Yes
Premium in relation to the conditions
Yes
Comparing on premium alone
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Your own land versus your neighbour's
If contamination spreads from your site to the plot next door or into a ditch, your liability insurer has a say. If the pollution stays within your own boundary there is no injured third party and therefore no liability, while the authorities can still require a clean-up. Your buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) is no help either: it pays for the building, not the ground beneath it. This policy fills precisely that gap.
Firefighting water is the item most often underestimated
In a fire, contaminated firefighting water ends up in the soil, the sewer or the surface water. If you store oil, paint, solvents, fertiliser or waste, those costs can exceed the fire damage itself, while the fire policy pays only for the building and the contents. The water authority or the local council can also recover the cost of cleaning the sewer system from you. For storage of this kind, environmental damage cover environmental damage cover is a basic requirement, not an extension.
Tanks, pipework and the condition of your installations
For underground and above-ground tanks, insurers set requirements for certification, periodic inspection and leak detection. If a valid inspection certificate is missing, or a tank was not installed in line with the applicable assessment guideline, cover for that installation can lapse. The same applies to liquid-tight floors and drip trays at storage areas. Have inspection dates recorded and keep the reports; after a loss they are the first thing you will be asked for.
What the policy does not pay
Excluded are contamination that was already present at inception or that arose gradually, known defects you have not put right, and asbestos built into buildings. Fines and penalty payments imposed by an environmental agency cannot be insured, nor can intent or deliberate breach of a permit condition, in view of Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. Loss of turnover during the clean-up is covered only under a separate extension.
What does your premium depend on?
Nature and quantity of the substances stored. Oils, chemicals, fertilisers and waste streams determine what a leak or fire does to the soil.
Soil type and position of the site. Sandy soil, a high water table or a location in a groundwater protection area increase the clean-up risk.
Tanks, pipework and storage facilities. The number, age and certification of underground tanks and the presence of leak detection weigh heavily.
Prevention measures. Liquid-tight floors, drip trays, closable drainage and an emergency plan reduce the scale of a clean-up.
Sections chosen. Cover for your own site alone is cheaper than cover that also includes third-party sites and work carried out en route.
Baseline soil survey. A recent soil report makes clear what was already there and helps in setting the premium and the excess.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Is soil contamination not simply covered by my AVB?
Only in so far as a third party suffers loss and you are liable for it. Contamination on your own site does not create liability, while the authorities can still enforce a clean-up. Many liability policies also exclude environmental damage altogether. This policy was designed for exactly that situation and works without any need to establish fault.
What is a baseline soil survey and do I need one?
It is a soil survey that records what is already in the ground at inception. Without that measurement it is impossible, after a loss, to establish what is new and what was already there, and the risk stays with you. Insurers ask for one above all where there is high-risk storage, on older sites and when a business is taken over.
A subcontractor spills on my site. Who pays?
In principle he is liable and you approach his insurer. If he turns out to be uninsured or denies responsibility, your own environmental damage cover can advance the cost of the clean-up and then seek recovery. For work you carry out at a client's premises you need the third-party sites section. Without it, only your own address is covered.
Will the insurer pay a penalty imposed by the environmental agency?
No. Administrative fines and penalty payments are by their nature uninsurable, because insuring them would remove their punitive effect. What is covered are the costs of investigation, clean-up and reinstatement arising from the enforcement decision, plus the costs you incur to mitigate the loss and prevent further spread. So report any enforcement notice immediately.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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