Installation fires · inspection · outages
Liability insurance for an electrical contractor
A fault in an electrical installation often stays invisible for months and then comes back as a fire or an outage. That passage of time determines how a claim is assessed.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een elektrabedrijf.
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.
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
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
An electrical contractor causes damage in two ways. Directly, during the work: a drill through a water pipe, a damaged floor, a short circuit that stops a production line. And indirectly, much later: a badly fitted terminal that overheats, an overloaded circuit or a missing earth connection that eventually causes a fire. The public and employers' liability insurance is intended for both, provided it concerns injury or damaged property.
What falls outside it matters just as much. Putting your own installation right is your contractual performance: new components, chasing, pulling in cable and hours are at your own expense. The installation you are working on is, moreover, often in your care, custody and control exclusion, the distribution board you are converting for example. And if you supply an inspection report to NEN 3140 or a design calculation that the client relies on, an error in it quickly becomes pure financial loss, for which a professional indemnity insurance is needed.
On the staff side, electrocution is rare but serious, and arc flashes during live switching cause severe burns. Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to show that working dead was the rule, that instructions to NEN 3140 were recorded and that personal protective equipment was available and used. For project risks during construction there is also the liability cover for installation and assembly work.
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 make the difference between payment and rejection in electrical work.
A fire that only starts later
A year can pass between the installation work and the fire. Most policies work on a claims-made basisbasis: what counts is when the claim comes in, not when you did the work. If you stop the insurance or switch insurer, arrange a run-off period or retroactive cover, otherwise you are uninsured for work in your own past.
A shutdown is not always insured
If you bring a production line or a data centre to a halt, the question is whether anything is broken. If the shutdown follows from damaged equipment, it is consequential loss and fits the AVB. If it follows only from an installation without power and no material damage, it is pure financial loss and excluded as standard.
Components supplied and recalls
If you supply panels, chargers or control systems that you assemble yourself, product liability applies to them. The AVB can cover the damage such a product causes, but the the costs of retrieving, replacing and refitting are almost always excluded. There is separate recall cover for that.
Business activity and operations
The policy states what you are insured for. If you add sun blinds, data network infrastructure, fire alarm systems or charging infrastructure, report it. Work outside the business activity described is not covered, and unreported changes engage the duty of disclosure under Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover and payroll: these determine the scale of the work and the staff risk
- Type of client: housebuilding weighs differently from industry or care institutions
- Voltage level: medium voltage and switching work carry a heavier injury risk
- Products you assemble yourself: panel building brings product liability with it
- Run-off and retroactive periods: important where damage only surfaces years later
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A fitter drops a cable drum off the scaffold onto a parked car | Yes | No |
| A resident receives a shock from an unconnected earth wire and falls down the stairs | Yes | No |
| While pulling in cables you puncture the underfloor heating and the screed has to be opened up | Yes | No |
| An apprentice fitter is injured on a distribution board that was still live | Yes | No |
| The client claims a year of higher energy costs because of a wrongly set control system | No | Yes |
| You replace twenty light fittings that you installed with the wrong control gear | No | No |
Anything leading to damaged property or injury belongs on the AVB. A calculation error or judgement without material damage does not.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A building burnt down because of an installation we put in two years ago. Is that covered?
That depends on the cover basis of your policy. With claims-made cover, the moment the claim is brought counts, and your insurance must be in force at that point. If you were with a different insurer at the time, retroactive cover is needed. The damage to the building and its contents is property damage; reinstalling your own work is not.
Does the AVB cover an error in a NEN 3140 inspection report?
Only if injury or damaged property follows from it. If the client says he wrongly replaced nothing on the strength of your report and incurred costs as a result, with nothing broken, that is pure financial loss. Inspection and advice therefore belong on professional indemnity insurance, alongside the AVB.
We drilled through a pipe in a rented building. What happens?
Water damage to the building and to third parties' contents is property damage and falls within cover in principle. Argument arises if the wall or the pipework you were working on is itself damaged: that can fall under the care, custody and control exclusion. Obtaining a drawing and scanning before you drill is the difference here between an accident and culpable conduct.
Are penalties under a contract with the client insured?
No. Penalties, reductions for late completion and liability accepted by contract going beyond liability in law are excluded on almost every AVB. Have purchasing conditions checked before you sign, therefore; business legal expenses cover can help with the dispute that follows.
Read more
Within Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering installatiebedrijf
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering elektricien zzp
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering installateur zzp
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering glaszettersbedrijf
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering glaszetter zzp
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering airco bedrijf
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