Server rooms · migrations · care, custody and control
Liability insurance for a self-employed professional in IT automation
Anyone who installs networks and migrates systems has his hands in someone else's equipment. That is exactly why the care, custody and control exclusion is the provision that counts here.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zelfstandige in IT-automatisering.
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
IT and automation work is more physical than the name suggests. You pull cabling through ceilings, hang switches in a patch cabinet, lift servers out of a rack and work in rooms with cooling and a fire suppression system. Real damage to propertyarises there: a rack that topples, a power supply connected wrongly, a fire suppression system triggered by accident, drilling dust in running equipment. The public and employers' liability insurance is meant.
The line runs at the equipment you are working on at that moment. A server you have taken out of the rack, a laptop on your bench for reinstallation or a firewall you have taken under management is in your in your care. If you damage that very item, it is excluded under the standard policy, while damage to the rest of the installation can be covered. Anyone who works on site a great deal has to make a choice about this in advance.
The third category is data and downtime. A migration that goes wrong, a back-up that turns out not to work or a network that is down for a day costs the client money without anything being broken. Data is not property in law, so this is pure financial loss: it belongs on professional indemnity insurance. If an attack comes in through your management access, cyber insurance into view.
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 in automation work between payment and no payment.
Working in a server room
A server room is an environment where a small action has large consequences: switching off the wrong circuit, closing down cooling or triggering a gas suppression system. Ask for the client's procedures in advance, work with a change form and have critical actions signed off. When a claim comes in, that paperwork is the evidence that you acted within the agreed instructions.
Care, custody and control during migration and management
On virtually every job you have the client's equipment in your care. The care, custody and control exclusion takes precisely that property out of cover. Ask for care, custody and control cover if you regularly take hardware away or hold it under management, and record for each job which equipment you have in your care and in what condition you found it.
What falls outside the cover
Excluded are loss of data and downtime at the client, equipment you have in your in your care, putting your own configuration or installation work right, administrative fines, licensing penalties from software suppliers, and intent or wilful recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Cabling work in existing buildings
Drilling through a wall or ceiling to run cabling brings you close to pipes and sprinkler lines. Water damage from a pipe you hit is classic property damage and is assessed under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Ask for drawings, measure beforehand and photograph what you find, because afterwards the cause can rarely be established.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the basis used for a self-employed person
- Balance between physical work and remote management: installation work weighs more heavily than remote management
- Clients' equipment under management: this determines whether you need care, custody and control cover
- Type of environments: office networks differ from data centres and production environments
- Sum insured: often matched to what clients require by contract
- Excess per claim: a consideration where there are many small instances of damage
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
Where the claim belongs
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| You drop a tool case on the glass reception desk in the client's entrance hall | Yes | No |
| An employee of the client trips over the patch cables you laid temporarily across the corridor and breaks an arm | Yes | No |
| While taping over a detector you set off the gas suppression system, which goes off and has to be refilled | Yes | No |
| The laptop you took away to reinstall falls out of your bag into the street on the way | No | No |
| After your set-up it turns out the back-up has not run for months and files are irretrievably lost | No | Yes |
| The client charges you for the external party that had to redo your configuration work | No | Provided that |
Damaged equipment belonging to others goes on the left, lost data and lost money on the right.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I have damaged a client's server. Is that paid for?
If you had that device in your care for your work, the care, custody and control exclusion applies and the standard policy does not pay. If the device was not involved in your work and was damaged by a rack falling over for instance, it is ordinary property damage. Payment is also governed by the principle of Article 7:960 of the Dutch Civil Code: you are not better off after a loss than you were, so market value is the starting point.
A failed migration left the client's business down for a day.
Downtime and lost data are not damaged property but money lost. The AVB does not cover that; professional indemnity insurance exists for it. Limit the risk with a fallback plan, a tested back-up before you start and written confirmation of the maintenance window you agreed with the client.
I hit a sprinkler pipe while drilling.
Water damage to the building, to the contents and to third parties' equipment falls within cover if you are liable. Report it to your insurer immediately and have the situation assessed before anything is cleared up. Also ask whether the building manager had supplied drawings. That can affect the degree of fault.
I work as a subcontractor for an IT company. Am I covered under their policy?
No, their policy covers their own liability and they will recover a loss from you under the agreement you made with them. Almost every client therefore requires insurance of your own with a minimum sum insured per claim. Check that your stated business activity covers all the work you do for them.
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