Liability insurance for a beauty salon
In a beauty salon the damage does not arise alongside the treatment but through it. That is precisely the category that a standard policy often deals with separately or excludes.
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In brief
A salon works with heat, light, acids and adhesives on a client's skin. Wax that is too hot, a chemical peel left on too long, a flash of light without eye protection, a lash adhesive that causes an allergic reaction: those are personal injury losses and therefore in principle the territory of liability insurance. The legal basis is Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, where the question is whether you exercised the care that may be expected of a skilled practitioner. Your intake form, the contra-indications recorded and the evidence of a patch test carried out are your most important documents in that.
Insurers do not treat damage arising from the treatment itself as a matter of course. Part of the market excludes it, another part places it in a separate treatment damage section with its own conditions about training and equipment. If you work with IPL, laser, radiofrequency or microneedling, the insurer will ask for qualifications for each technique and for a maintenance record for the device. If those are missing, cover for precisely that loss is the first thing put in issue.
Three things stay outside this policy in any event. Redoing or refunding a treatment is performance of your contract and not a loss. A client who is merely dissatisfied with the result is claiming pure financial loss. And your own treatment chairs, cabins and equipment belong on business contents insurance, not on liability cover. For disputes about invoices or lease contracts, look at legal expenses.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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What to look out for
Four points on which a claim in this sector is ultimately decided.
Treatment damage is a section of its own
Ask in black and white whether damage arising during and through the treatment is included, and on what conditions. If that section is refused because a technique is considered too risky, you know before something goes wrong rather than afterwards. Have the description of business activity name all the treatments you actually offer.
Adhesives, waxes and allergic reactions
Lash extensions are applied with cyanoacrylate adhesive close to the eye; fumes and contact can lead to inflammation or corneal damage. Carry out a patch test before a first treatment and note the date and result in the client's file. Without that file it cannot be shown that you acted carefully, and then the liability is in principle established.
Equipment that emits light and heat
With IPL and laser, skin type, medication, recent sun exposure and pregnancy determine whether someone may be treated. Record the intake for each session, use eye protection for the client and the practitioner, and keep the device's maintenance logbook. A burn or permanent change in pigmentation is the loss this section exists for.
Injectables do not fall under this
Administering fillers or botulinum toxin is injecting and therefore a reserved procedure within the meaning of the Wet BIG (the Dutch act on healthcare professions). A salon policy virtually never covers that, not even where a doctor is involved remotely. If you offer it anyway, not only the treatment but possibly your entire cover is at stake.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for the premium
- Composition of the treatment menu: skincare weighs differently from skin improvement
- Equipment present. IPL, laser and microneedling are assessed separately
- Staff, apprentices and trainees: they fall under your duty of care as an employer
- Your own or rented salon space: this determines the need for tenant's liability cover
- Sale of care products: selling under your own name affects product liability
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | Treatment damage section |
|---|---|---|
| A client trips over the raised edge of your rug in the waiting area | Yes | No |
| A bottle of remover knocked over damages a waiting client's coat | Yes | No |
| Wax that is too hot leaves a blister on a client's thigh | No | Yes |
| A client's eyebrows fall out after a tinting treatment | No | Provided that |
| The GGD (the municipal health service) imposes a fine after a hygiene inspection | No | No |
| A scented candle knocked over sets fire to your own treatment chair | No | No |
What happens alongside the treatment is on the left. What arises through the treatment only on the right, and only if that section is on your policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A client is left with a burn after a light treatment. Is that covered?
Only if the treatment damage section is on your policy. This is injury caused by the procedure itself, and that is not automatically included. If the section is there, the insurer will look at your intake, the settings used and the maintenance of the device. Report the loss at once; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to notify as soon as you know of it.
A client is dissatisfied with the result of a course of treatments.
That is not an insured loss. As long as there is no injury and nothing is damaged, it is money the client wants back: pure financial loss, and that is excluded on public and employers' liability insurance. A free correction or a refund is also performance of your agreement. Work, therefore, with realistic expectations on paper, signed at the intake.
Our nail technician develops an acrylate allergy.
That is an occupational disease claim and it is assessed under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code. You must show that there was local extraction, that gloves and instructions were available and that you supervised their use. For trainees the same duty of care applies through subsection 4. Keep safety data sheets and records of briefings, because such a claim often only comes years later.
We want to start offering fillers. Can that go on this policy?
No. Injecting is a reserved procedure under the Wet BIG and falls outside the cover of a beauty salon policy. An arrangement in which a doctor formally gives the instruction usually changes nothing. If you want to move in that direction, it calls for a different business structure and a different insurance solution; have that assessed in advance rather than afterwards.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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