Liability insurance for a self-employed trainer
A trainer works with groups in rooms that are not his. As soon as an exercise becomes physical or a participant falls, the conversation moves from teaching method to liability.
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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.
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In brief
Participants in your training are third parties. If someone trips over a bag in a circle, a participant is hurt during an energiser or someone falls off a table in a role play, that is third-party injury and the core territory of the AVB. Whether you are liable depends, under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, on your instructions, on whether the exercise suited the group and on whether you had warned about the risk.
The second category is property damage in the room where you work: marker pen on a painted wall, a cup knocked over onto a conference table with built-in technology, a projector or touchscreen belonging to the client that you drop. Watch two provisions there. Damage to the premises hired falls under the tenant's liability section, and equipment the client lets you use falls under the care, custody and control exclusion. Neither is arranged as standard.
What belongs elsewhere: a training course that in the client's view does not deliver what was promised, assessment advice that turns out badly or a breach of confidentiality about what was said in the group. Those are financial complaints without injury or damaged property, so pure financial loss, and professional indemnity insurance for self-employed professionals is intended for that. You arrange your own income during absence with disability insurance. The general explanation is on the hub page on the AVB.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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Business liability insurance (AVB)
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What to look out for
Four subjects that determine in training work whether the policy fits.
Physical and outdoor elements
A team exercise with ropes, a survival element, climbing, water or fire changes the risk profile entirely. Many policies contain an exclusion or a duty to disclosefor this. If you fail to disclose that you offer elements of this kind, the insurer can rely in a claim on the Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code and adjust or refuse the payment.
The client's room and equipment
You rarely train in a room of your own. For damage to the premises themselves you need the tenant's liability section; for the projector, the touchscreen or the flipchart wall you are given to use, the care, custody and control exclusionapplies. Ask about both expressly when you get a quote, because the amounts involved are seldom small.
What a training course promises
Training proposals often contain results-based wording about behaviour, absenteeism or turnover. If that does not materialise, the claim is one about financial loss and not about injury or property damage. Frame a best-efforts obligation in your proposal rather than a promised result. That helps in the discussion and sometimes in the liability itself.
Under your own name or through an agency
If you work as a subcontractor for a training agency, read who is held liable and what you take on by contract. Liability arising only from a indemnity and going beyond the law is generally excluded on the AVB. Agencies also often ask for a policy schedule with a minimum level of cover before you may start.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for self-employed people
- Type of training: classroom work weighs less than physical or outdoor programmes
- Group size: more participants means more chance of injury
- Location of the training: at the client, in a hired room or outdoors
- Care, custody and control and tenant's liability: separate sections you either take or do not
- Area of cover: training outside the Netherlands calls for a wider territory
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
Which policy pays
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A participant trips over an extension lead you laid yourself and breaks a wrist | Yes | No |
| The client's projector falls off the table while you are connecting it | No | No |
| A participant is injured during an outdoor element you had not declared | Provided that | No |
| The client reclaims the training budget because absenteeism did not fall | No | Yes |
| You pass on, without permission, what a participant said in the group | No | Provided that |
| You mark with a permanent pen on the painted wall of the hired room | Provided that | No |
The AVB pays for injury and property damage, the BAV for the financial consequences of a professional error; care, custody and control and tenant's liability are standard on neither.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A participant was hurt during an exercise. Covered?
Injury to a participant falls under the AVB if you are liable for it under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. The insurer looks at your instructions, the suitability of the exercise for this group and the room you were working in. If it was a physical or outdoor element you had not declared, the cover can still become a problem.
I used the client's projector and it fell.
Equipment you are given to use is in your keeping without your owning it, and that situation falls under the care, custody and control exclusion. Without care, custody and control cover included you pay for this yourself. Agree in advance who operates and sets up the equipment, or bring your own and insure it on a business contents basis.
The client thinks the training failed and wants his money back.
That is a discussion about the quality of your performance and therefore about pure financial loss. The AVB does not cover that. It exists for injury and damaged property. Professional indemnity insurance does take on this type of claim, including defence costs. Limit the risk in your quote by speaking of a best-efforts obligation with learning objectives agreed in advance.
I also give training abroad.
Then check the territorial scope on your policy. Many conditions cover Europe, with a separate provision for claims brought in the United States or Canada. Those are often excluded. State when you apply in which countries you work and how often, because an undisclosed regular practice abroad can stand in the way of a payment later.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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