A photographer works briefly in other people's spaces, with tripods, lights and cables in places where visitors walk, and that is where liability begins.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The loss pattern in photography is physical and small in scale, but expensive to put right: a studio flash toppling into a mirror or a mural, a cable across a walkway that a guest trips over, a tripod leg on a parquet floor. Liability for that runs through Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code and falls under public and employers' liability insurance, provided you declared your use of your own lighting and the locations where you work when you applied.
There is also a category of claims in this profession that is not property damage and therefore falls outside the AVB. If you publish a recognisable person without consent, or process images in a way that does not comply with the GDPR, the loss is purely financial: correction, removal, compensation. The same applies if the shots of a one-off event turn out to be unusable. Those are professional errors, for which you need separate professional indemnity cover.
Your own cameras, lenses and lights are not covered by either policy. For those you need an equipment or plant policy, with a separate arrangement for use away from home, transport in the car and storage in a hotel or a hired studio.
What does liability insurance for photographers cover?
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.
What you hire or borrow falls under care, custody and control
A hired studio, a borrowed lens, a piece of set or a garment from a stylist is in your care during the assignment. Damage to it is, on a standard AVB, excluded; only an extension for care, custody and control picks that up. When setting the limit, do not look at what you bring yourself, but at the most expensive location you will be working in this year: a listed building or a museum room with artworks on the walls.
Image rights and the GDPR are not property damage
Commercial use of a recognisable portrait requires consent; work with a model release and keep it with the image file, not loose in a folder. At events, record how you inform visitors. A claim about this is pure financial loss and falls outside the AVB. Administrative fines from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority) are, moreover, not insurable on any policy; they always remain for your own account.
Lost shots of a one-off event
A corrupted card or a stolen bag after a wedding does not produce damaged property, but a service that can no longer be delivered. The AVB does not cover that. So work with dual card slots or immediate back-up, and limit your liability in your terms and conditions to the fee for the assignment. Without such a clause and without professional indemnity cover, the claim is unlimited and entirely for your account.
Drone shots fall outside your ordinary policy
Flying a drone is a separate risk with its own rules: registration, a flying licence for the relevant category and permission for the location. Public and employers' liability insurance usually excludes aircraft from. Ask for express drone liability cover and state at what height and over which areas you work. If you fly without the required qualification there is no cover, even where drone cover has been included.
What does your premium depend on?
Type of assignments. Studio portraits, weddings, events, industry or construction sites each produce a different risk profile.
Working at third-party sites. The more often you work in other people's premises with your own lighting, the more heavily that weighs.
Care, custody and control limit. The amount for damage to hired studios, borrowed equipment and items supplied to you.
Publication and image rights. Commercial use of recognisable people calls for a professional indemnity element.
Use of drones. Aerial photography is a separate section with its own requirements as to qualifications and registration.
Turnover and use of others. Annual turnover and the engagement of second photographers or assistants form the rating basis.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
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.
Is my own equipment covered by liability insurance?
No. Liability insurance covers damage you cause to others, not damage to your own belongings. You insure cameras, lenses, tripods and lighting under a separate equipment policy. Pay attention to the provisions on theft from a vehicle: many policies restrict that during the day and exclude it entirely at night, even if the equipment was in the boot.
A guest trips over my cable. Who pays for that?
You do, if you laid the cable without covering or marking it. That is unlawful conduct within the meaning of Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Injury claims fall under the AVB and can run high where the injury is permanent. Cover cables, use tape or mats, and photograph your set-up. If you work with an assistant, you are liable for their mistakes under Article 6:170 DCC.
Does the AVB cover a claim about image rights or copyright?
No. Public and employers' liability insurance covers property damage and injury. A claim about publication without consent, about using someone else's image or about a GDPR breach is pure financial loss. For that you need professional indemnity cover; see professional indemnity for self-employed professionals. Regulatory fines remain outside the cover even then.
What does a client usually require of a photographer?
For corporate and government assignments, public and employers' liability insurance with a minimum sum insured per claim is almost always required, plus a statement that you work with your own lighting on their site. For industrial locations, safety requirements are added, such as valid VCA certification and a work permit. Ask in advance which policy schedule they want to receive.
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.
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