Liability insurance for a paving company
A paving contractor works in public space, among passing traffic and above a network of buried services that nobody can see. Liability therefore runs as often to a road user as to the client.
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In brief
The public and employers' liability insurance covers injury and property damage at third parties. For a paving business that contains two centres of gravity a sole trader does not have. The first is the worksite itself: a barrier that is not right is a hazard for which you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code as soon as someone falls because of it. The second is your staff, for whom the duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code applies.
Three types of cost stay outside this policy. The relaying guarantee you give is a contractual obligation and not compensation. Damage to your own machines belongs on a plant and machinery insurance. And damage you cause with a motor vehicle falls outside the AVB in principle because the compulsory insurance under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) applies to it — the boundary between driving and working is therefore no formality with a mini loader or small excavator.
If you work for municipalities or housing associations, read the specification conditions. They contain guarantee periods, penalty clauses and indemnities that reach further than the law. That extra part is not insured. Also report changes in your activities — taking on groundworks or drainage work, for example — because Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code tie the payment to what you disclosed when the policy was taken out.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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What is different in a company working shifts
Four subjects on which a paving contractor is assessed in a claim.
Barriers, diversions and the walking route
An open worksite in a residential street calls for fencing, lighting, road plates and a passable route for pedestrians and cyclists. Where there is injury, it is tested whether you had put up the measures set out in the usual guidance and whether you checked them at the end of the day. Record the daily check; in a claim months later that is the only evidence you still have.
Machines: driving or working
A mini excavator, loader or paving machine shifts back and forth between two regimes. On the public road it is a motor vehicle and the WAMapplies; on the worksite it is plant. Virtually every AVB has a motor vehicle exclusion with an exception for damage caused with plant during the work. Make sure that exception is expressly on your policy, otherwise your biggest risk falls between two insurances.
Heavy and repetitive work
Knee and back complaints and conditions caused by hand-arm vibration are the longest-tail claims in this sector: they are reported years after someone has left. Under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code you then have to show that you made lifting aids available, kept the risk inventory and evaluation up to date and limited exposure. For agency workers and hired-in self-employed professionals the same duty of care applies through subsection 4.
Trees, roots and cables under the work
Damaged tree roots during repaving lead to a claim from the municipality for the value of the tree. A service connection or fibre-optic cable struck leads to a claim from the network operator. Both are third-party property damage and insured in principle, but many policies apply an a different excessfor this. The outage costs network operators then compensate to their own customers are treated very differently from insurer to insurer.
What does your premium depend on?
- Payroll and number of paviours: the yardstick for employers' liability
- Annual turnover: the basis for the risk towards third parties, usually with an adjustment at the end of the year
- Share of work in public space: street work among traffic weighs more heavily than garden landscaping
- Groundworks and drainage in the package: digging changes the claims profile fundamentally
- Own equipment and machine fleet: determines how it fits with the plant and machinery cover
- Hired-in labour and subcontracting: hired-in crews count towards your duty of care
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A road plate tips over and damages the car parked right next to it | Yes | No |
| Your loader pushes over a neighbour's garden wall during the work | Yes | No |
| A paviour drops an edging stone on his foot and is out of action for months | Yes | No |
| A neighbouring resident claims cracking in his house from the vibration of your roller | Provided that | No |
| Your setting out is wrong and the whole street lies too high against the thresholds of the houses | No | Yes |
| A mistake in your phasing plan keeps the shops inaccessible for another week | No | Yes |
If you also take on setting out, phasing or design, your risk starts where the left-hand column stops.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A cyclist falls in our worksite. Who bears that?
If the barriers were missing or inadequate, you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code and the injury is covered on the AVB. If the barriers were demonstrably in order and someone moved them, the position is different. Report the claim immediately, take photographs of the situation as you left it and do not admit liability; that is an obligation on virtually every policy.
Is the relaying guarantee we give insured?
No. A guarantee is an obligation you take on yourself in the contract. The AVB covers liability arising from the law. If you have to relay free of charge within the guarantee period, that work is at your own expense. Take the duration of such guarantees into account in your pricing, therefore, and state clearly who was responsible for the sub-base.
An employee reports knee complaints after years. Are we liable?
That depends on what you can show. Under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code the burden is on you to prove that you met your duty of care: lifting aids available, instruction, variation in tasks and an up-to-date risk inventory. Occupational diseases with a long latency also call for attention to the run-off period of your policy, particularly if you change insurer.
We also use self-employed workers. Does that change our cover?
Yes, in two respects. For the duty of care they fall under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code and therefore under your employers' liability. And for damage they cause to third parties, you as the principal are often jointly liable. Report the extent of hired-in labour to your insurer, ask for their own policy schedule and set out in your purchasing conditions that they must remain insured.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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