Screen work · duty of care · rented space
Liability insurance for a call centre
A call centre rarely causes damage on site. The claims come from its own staff and from customers who say they were misinformed.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een callcenter.
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 for yourself what it would cost.
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- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) covers injury and property damage that you cause to others. In a call centre the emphasis lies not on falling materials or work on a building site, but on employers' liability. Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code imposes a duty of care on you for a safe workplace, and for screen work with a headset that means, in concrete terms: adjustable furniture, a break regime, a volume limiter on the headset and an up-to-date risk assessment and evaluation.
Two types of claim fall precisely outside the AVB. A customer who says he was put under pressure on the phone or given wrong information about a subscription is claiming pure financial loss: money, without anything being broken or anyone being injured. That belongs on professional indemnity insurance. The costs of a data breach involving customer data belong on a cyber insurance.
What does belong on the AVB is damage to the rented office space: fire, water, a damaged shopfront or floor. Ask expressly for the tenant's liability clause for that, because it is not always included as standard. Watch the care, custody and control exclusion as well for equipment you have in your care but do not own: laptops and headsets belonging to a client, or leased hardware.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to look out for
Four points that lead to discussion more often than the level of the sum insured in a call centre.
Duty of care for screen work and headsets
RSI complaints and hearing damage from an acoustic shock are the most common injury claims in this sector. Under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code you have to show that you took measures. If you cannot, you are in principle liable. Record workplace instruction, the break regime and headset maintenance in writing, and keep it.
Pressure selling is not an AVB loss
Complaints about misleading information, aggressive telephone selling or a wrongly presented condition lead to a claim for a refund. That is pure financial loss and is excluded on the AVB as standard. Without professional indemnity cover you bear both the claim and the defence costs yourself.
Rented space and third parties' equipment
Tenant's liability is a separate section: without that cover you stand alone in the face of fire or water damage to the building you rent. Equipment belonging to a client that is in your keeping falls under the care, custody and control exclusion and needs separate care, custody and control or business contents cover.
Agency workers and home workplaces
Hired-in staff fall under your duty of care under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code, even where the contract lies with the agency. If agents work regularly from home, declare that in the application: undeclared circumstances can have consequences for the payout under Articles 7:928 and 7:930 DCC.
What does your premium depend on?
- Payroll and number of employees: the main yardstick for employers' liability
- Nature of the calls: inbound service weighs differently from outbound sales
- Hired-in and agency staff: this counts towards your duty of care
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
- Area of cover: calling for clients outside the Netherlands changes the risk
- Tenant's liability included: depending on the floor area rented and the building
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A visitor trips over a loose network cable in your call room and breaks a wrist | Yes | No |
| An agent knocks a monitor off the reception desk during a visit to a client | Yes | No |
| A customer demands his subscription fee back because your agent quoted the wrong term | No | Yes |
| A small fire in the kitchenette sets off the sprinkler and the rented floor suffers water damage | Provided that | No |
| A leased laptop you hold on behalf of your client falls off a desk | No | No |
| The regulator imposes a fine after complaints about aggressive telephone selling | No | No |
Where it says Provided that, the answer depends on a separate section or clause on your policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Does the AVB cover a claim about misleading telephone selling?
No. Such a claim is about money the customer says he has lost and not about injury or damaged property. That is pure financial loss, for which the AVB is not intended. You need professional indemnity insurance for that. Deliberate misleading remains outside cover there as well, because Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes damage caused by intent.
Is RSI or hearing damage to an employee covered?
Personal injury to your own staff falls under the employers' liability section, provided that is included. The insurer will test whether you met your duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code; missing instruction or prevention can lead to a lower payout. Report a claim in good time, because Article 7:941 DCC requires you to report the loss as soon as you are reasonably aware of it.
And if an employee has an accident on the way to a customer?
Loss suffered by an employee as a driver on the road usually does not fall under the ordinary AVB. There is a separate employers' liability cover for road use. You can read about the difference between those versions at WEGAS and WEGAM. An office organisation faces this too as soon as staff use the road for work.
Are fines from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens insured?
No. Administrative fines and penalty payments are excluded on almost every liability insurance, because they are a punishment and not compensation. You can place the costs of investigation, remediation and notification after a data breach on a cyber insurance, as well as the liability towards the people whose data leaked.
Read more
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