Prevention · warranty clauses · fire safety
a.s.r.'s buildings insurance
An insurer rarely accepts business premises without conditions. The prevention clauses on the policy schedule determine whether you are actually paid after a fire.
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In brief
With a business building an insurer looks at the process carried out inside it. Welding, machining, charging batteries, storing plastics or drying products: each of those activities changes the fire picture. That is why the policy carries warranty and prevention clauses. These are not recommendations but conditions; failing to comply with them is an independent reason to limit or refuse a payment.
The clauses you meet most often in practice concern a periodic inspection of the electrical installation, clear space between stored goods and the wall or roof, securing the site, and a hot work permit for work involving a fire risk. Keep the inspection reports and the completed permits; when you claim, that is the first thing the loss adjuster asks for.
Finass arranges this cover and compares several insurers objectively. Where a.s.r. is used, that follows from your risk profile and from whether the requirements imposed are workable, not from a preference decided in advance. We assess the buildings cover together with business contents and goods insurance and business interruption insurance, and in the case of an extension or new build with construction and erection insurance. The general product explanation is on the hub page on commercial buildings insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare commercial buildings insurance.
What to look out for
Four points that weigh heavily for a business building used for production or storage.
Electrical inspection as a hard condition
A clause requiring periodic inspection of the electrical installation appears on virtually every industrial policy. If defects found are not put right within the period set and a fire with an electrical cause occurs, your position is weak. Plan the reinspection ahead and keep the report together with evidence of the repairs, even if the electrician says the points are trivial.
Hot work by third parties
Roof work with a naked flame, grinding, welding or soldering calls for a permit with measures agreed in advance: extinguishers to hand, combustible material removed, a fire watch afterwards. If you have a contractor do the work, the clause remains your obligation. Damage the contractor causes you then recover from their liability insurance, but your own cover stands separate from that.
Storage, height and clear space
Conditions often prescribe a minimum distance between stored goods and the wall, the roof or the sprinkler heads, and limit the storage of hazardous substances. Anyone who fills the aisle during a busy period breaches that requirement. Storage outside against the wall is a classic ignition point and with many insurers is even excluded entirely, or allowed only at a distance.
What is excluded in any event
Even with perfect prevention, wear, inherent defect, construction faults, subsidence, vermin and gradual action of damp remain excluded. The same applies to flooding from a primary flood defence, earthquake and damage you cause deliberately; the last of these follows directly from Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. Environmental damage from soil contamination after a fire is a separate product: the environmental damage insurance.
What does your premium depend on?
- Nature of the business process — storage, metalworking or food production are weighed differently
- Construction type and compartmentation — fire-resistant separations limit the maximum loss
- Prevention measures in place — sprinklers, fire alarm system, transmission to an alarm receiving centre
- Rebuild value of the premises — including installations treated as part of the building
- Storage of hazardous substances — quantity, packaging and location on the site
- Claims history and excess — a previous fire noticeably changes acceptance
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
What is covered
| Situation | Extended | Comprehensive |
|---|---|---|
| A lightning strike damaging the roof penetration and the facade cladding | Yes | Yes |
| A supplier's lorry knocks the overhead door out of its frame | Yes | Yes |
| A forklift driven by your own employee damages a load-bearing column | No | Yes |
| An employee drills through a sprinkler pipe while fixing cable trays | No | Yes |
| Hail damage to solar panels fixed to the roof | Provided that | Provided that |
| Heavy rain enters because the flat roof drain was blocked | No | No |
Comprehensive cover widens the events covered, but does not remove the warranty and prevention clauses on your policy.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often about this.
What happens if I have not complied with a clause?
The insurer can then refuse or reduce payment, even if the failure was not the direct cause of the fire. With a warranty clause, compliance is a condition of cover, not an obligation to use best efforts. If you cannot practically meet a requirement, report that before a loss occurs and have the condition amended or an alternative recorded.
Is damage to my machinery included?
Only if the policy treats that machinery as part of the building. Free-standing production equipment belongs on contents and goods cover. Internal damage to a machine without fire or another covered peril — a fracture, a short circuit in the drive — falls under neither and calls for machinery breakdown cover.
Do I have to report an extension of the building?
Yes. An extension changes both the rebuild value and the risk. Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code tie the payment to what you have declared, so an unreported extension can leave part of the loss uninsured. During the building work itself, restricted conditions also apply; the works in progress are insured on a construction all risks (CAR) policy.
Does buildings insurance cover the cost of clearing debris?
Usually yes, up to a percentage stated in the policy on top of the sum insured. Demolition, removal and the disposal of contaminated firefighting water run high after a major fire. Remediation of the soil or of asbestos spread by the fire usually falls outside it and belongs on environmental damage insurance; check that before you settle the cover.
Read more
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