This policy works per insured location and per section: what does not appear on the policy schedule is, at a clean-up, not a point of discussion but a rejection.
Without obligation; a reply within one working day.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out your own premium with the calculator.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Environmental damage insurance is a policy in its own right alongside your liability and buildings insurance, and is built up from sections. The core is the clean-up of your own insured location. Around it lie choices: clean-up at third-party sites, clearance costs and costs of mitigating the loss, costs of investigation and the reinstatement of paving and planting, and sometimes business interruption during the clean-up. What you do not choose is not insured; there is no residual cover to catch it.
The second feature is the the tie to a location. The policy schedule shows addresses, not a business. If you open a second site, rent an extra warehouse temporarily or move the storage to another site, that belongs on the policy schedule before anything happens. If you rent the premises, the lease often determines who has to sign up for what; see also business buildings insurance.
The third feature is the trigger in time. One insurer takes the moment of the event, another the moment of discovery. On switching insurer, that is where the gap appears. For the types of loss themselves, from firefighting water to a leaking tank, read on at environmental damage in practice.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
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.
The policy follows locations, not your company name
Every insured location is shown by address on the policy schedule, with its own sum insured. A new site, a temporarily rented plot or relocated storage does not fall under it automatically. If you work on a client's site, that is not an insured location at all: environmental damage during contracted work belongs with the Construction all risks (CAR) insurance or with the liability cover. An unreported extension moreover goes to Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code.
The environmental exclusion on your AVB is broad
Public and employers' liability insurance covers third-party property damage and injury, but excludes environmental impairment; some versions allow only sudden and unforeseen impairment and never gradual. Yet gradual contamination is the normal scenario with tanks and pipework. So do not assume overlap, but have it set out side by side where the AVB stops and where this policy begins. Otherwise the gap appears precisely at the seam.
Event or discovery determines who pays
Contamination stays unnoticed for years. That is why the question of which moment the policy points to is so decisive: the moment the leak arose, or the moment you discovered it. If you move to another insurer with a different trigger, an old contamination can fall between two stools. When switching, ask expressly about prior-acts and run-off cover, and report a discovery immediately in accordance with Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What this policy does not do
The cover is about cleaning up, not about compensating. Outside the cover remain: administrative fines and penalty payments, any fall in the value of your plot after completion, the cost of improvement beyond the original condition, and contamination that was already known at inception or appeared from a soil report. Loss caused by intent or deliberate recklessness is excluded under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. So ask not only about the sum insured but about the list of exclusions.
What does your premium depend on?
Number and nature of the insured locations — Each location is assessed separately and entered on the policy schedule with its own sum.
Ownership or rental — With a tenancy, the tenant's interest matters, as does what the lease requires about soil reinstatement.
Sections chosen — Your own site only, or third-party sites, clearance costs and business interruption during the clean-up as well.
Sum insured per event and per year — The maximum within which investigation, excavation, removal and reinstatement together have to fit.
Risk class of the activities — Metalworking, a garage, a farm or an office lead to widely differing underwriting.
Trigger and excess — Whether the policy works on event or on discovery, and what excess applies per event.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
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.
What is the difference from my public and employers' liability insurance?
The AVB covers third-party property damage and injury and excludes environmental impairment, sometimes with a narrow exception for sudden and unforeseen impairment. Environmental damage insurance covers precisely the clean-up costs, including on your own site, where no third party is involved. So they are not alternatives but two policies that have to fit together.
I rent my business premises. Who takes out the policy?
That follows from the lease. Many contracts place on the tenant the duty to return the property in its original condition, including the soil, and require a baseline measurement. The owner then insures the building and you insure the user's risk. Have both policies laid alongside the lease before you sign.
What happens if I switch to another insurer?
The trigger in time then becomes important. If the old policy works on the moment of the event and the new one on the moment of discovery, a contamination that arose earlier and is found later can end up nowhere. At every switch, discuss prior-acts and run-off cover expressly and record the agreement in writing.
Are fines and penalty payments imposed by the authorities covered?
No. Administrative fines and penalty payments fall outside every environmental damage policy, as do the fall in the value of your plot and the cost of improvement beyond the original condition. What the policy does bear are the costs of investigation, excavation, removal, processing and the reinstatement that was needed for it, within the sum insured.
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.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
