Adjoining properties · asbestos · soil
Liability insurance for a demolition company
In demolition work the damage almost never falls on the object that has to go. It falls on the building next door, on the pipe underneath and on the ground the rubble lies on.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The public and employers' liability insurance pays for injury and property damage you cause to others. At a demolition company that means adjoining premises, road users and underground infrastructure. The object to be demolished is expressly not a loss item: it had to go anyway. What you can affect is the part that had to remain standing, and that falls under the care, custody and control exclusion because at that moment the building is in your keeping.
Three categories are structurally outside the standard cover in demolition work. Asbestos is excluded on virtually every policy or covered only within a strict clause for certified removal. Soil and groundwater contamination belongs on an environmental damage insurance. And administrative fines and penalty payments, for example after an enforcement visit, are not insurable anywhere because they are a penalty and not compensation.
Your file is your defence. A structural survey of the surrounding buildings, a demolition safety plan, the asbestos inventory and the notification of excavation determine, in a claim, whether you met your duty of care under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Report a claim as soon as you know of it: Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to do so and late notification can prejudice the insurer in its investigation.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
Where a demolition job comes unstuck
Four points that make the difference in demolition more often than the level of the sum insured.
Adjoining buildings and the pre-works survey
Cracks in the neighbouring house from vibration, shearing or pulling out foundation piles are the most common claim. Without a a pre-construction structural survey you cannot show what damage was already there, and many insurers include that survey as a condition in the policy. Watch the exclusion for gradually acting influencesas well: settlement that develops over months is assessed differently from a wall that collapses during the work.
Asbestos is in a clause of its own
For buildings from before 1994 an asbestos inventory is compulsory before you start. If you unexpectedly come across material during demolition, the work stops. Liability for asbestos contamination of the surroundings or of staff is excluded in principle on the AVB. Only a removal contractor with the right process certificate is offered separate cover for this, and even then within tight limits.
Excavation damage and prior notification
A gas main or fibre-optic bundle struck is third-party property damage and covered in principle, but many policies apply a an increased excessfor this. What is decisive is whether you made the excavation notification and dug carefully as the WIBON (the Dutch act on underground networks) requires. If the notification is missing, the discussion moves from cover to blame.
Rubble, dust and its removal
Dust nuisance to neighbours, rubble ending up on the public road and waste streams disposed of incorrectly lead to claims that partly fall outside the AVB. For your own people, Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies: exposure to silica dust and the chance of injury from collapsing material call for demonstrable measures, including for hired-in workers under subsection 4.
What does your premium depend on?
- Payroll and number of employees: decisive for the employers' liability section
- Annual turnover: the measure of the liability risk towards third parties
- Type of demolition: full demolition, strip-out for renovation or industrial dismantling
- Share of remediation work: asbestos and contaminated sites are assessed separately
- Your own equipment: cranes and sorting plant also affect the plant and machinery cover
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year, with a separate scale for excavation damage
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | Environmental damage insurance |
|---|---|---|
| A falling lump of concrete hits a van parked in front of the site hoarding | Yes | No |
| An employee is injured because a wall collapses earlier than the demolition plan allowed for | Yes | No |
| A split hydraulic hose lets oil run into the ground next to the site | No | Yes |
| Contaminated firefighting water from the rubble runs through the sewer into the ditch | No | Yes |
| The municipality imposes a penalty payment because the dust protocol was not followed | No | No |
| The client withholds part of the contract sum because the site was cleared late | No | No |
Damage to people and property belongs on the left, contamination of soil and water on the right, and a penalty from the authorities nowhere.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is damage to the building we are demolishing insured?
No. The object you are working on is in your keeping and falls under the care, custody and control exclusion. If you demolish too far and damage a part that under the contract had to remain standing, that is putting right your own work and is at your own expense. Damage to third parties' property that has nothing to do with it is covered.
The neighbours report cracks after our work. What now?
Report it to your insurer immediately and do not point to the pre-works survey yourself; let a loss adjuster make that comparison. Do not admit liability: virtually every policy prohibits that, because it damages the insurer's position. Without a pre-works survey the discussion becomes one person's word against another's, and in practice that rarely works out in your favour.
Does the AVB cover contamination of the soil under a demolition site?
In principle, no. Environmental damage has a regime of its own and belongs on environmental damage insurance, which can also include clean-up costs at your own or a rented site. Some AVB policies cover only sudden, unforeseen contamination at third parties. If you expect to come across tanks, oil or contaminated rubble during demolition, report that when you apply.
We subcontract the demolition of installations. Is that included?
Only if it has been reported. The insurer assesses your stated capacity and the extent of subcontracted work when the policy is taken out. If that changes materially, Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code can have consequences for a payment. Also set out in your purchasing conditions that the subcontractor holds his own liability insurance and ask for proof every year.
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