Physical capacity · sport and games · hired space
Liability insurance for a personal trainer
You load someone else's body close to its limit. That is the heart of the job and at the same time the risk this insurance turns on.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een personal trainer.
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
The public and employers' liability insurance covers injury and property damage suffered by others. With personal training it is almost always the first: a torn tendon during an exercise that got heavier too quickly, a weight plate sliding off the bar, a client rolling off the bench while being spotted. In case law there is a higher threshold for liability between participants in sport and games, but you are not a fellow athlete. A paid trainer is expected to make an expert assessment of physical capacity.
Some of the complaints you receive fall outside this policy. Nutrition, supplement or programme advice that does not work leads to a claim for a refund: money, with no injury or damaged property. That is pure financial loss and belongs with a professional indemnity insurance. Procedures of a medical or paramedical nature, such as manipulation or needling techniques, appear in most conditions as an exclusion or call for separate medical cover.
Where you train determines the rest. If you rent space in a gym, the equipment is property you have in your in your care and the care, custody and control exclusion applies; damage to the rented space itself calls for tenants' liability. If you train outdoors or at people's homes, the floor, the garden and the passer-by hit by a swinging weight are added. Gyms almost always require self-employed trainers to have a policy of their own with evidence of it.
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 are decisive in a claim about a training injury.
Intake, physical capacity and records
The question under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code is whether you knew or should have known that this exercise was too heavy for this client. A written intake with injury history, medication, cardiovascular complaints and pregnancy is therefore not a formality but your evidence. Also record when you referred someone to a doctor or physiotherapist and what the client did about it.
Someone else's equipment and materials
A cable you rehang wrongly that then snaps, a mirror that breaks, a floor tile that cracks under a dropped barbell: it concerns the gym's or your client's property. For the equipment you are using at that moment the care, custody and control exclusionapplies. Ask when signing the hire contract who bears damage to equipment and whether there is an excess on it.
What falls outside the cover
Excluded are your own injury and the income you lose because of it, refunds of training packages and other pure financial loss, medical and paramedical procedures, fines, intent and wilful recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, damage caused with your car or van (Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)) and property you have in your care.
Bootcamps and group training outdoors
Training outdoors means more participants, less supervision and ground you do not know. A hole in the grass, a slippery kerb or a fence pulled over produces injury to a participant or a passer-by. Local authorities often set conditions on the use of a park; working without the required permission weakens your position. An exclusion of liability in your terms helps only to a limited extent where there is injury.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the basis for a sole trader
- Type of training: strength training, bootcamp, group classes or remote coaching
- Training location: your own studio, hired space, outdoors or at the client's home
- Group size: more participants per session means less direct supervision
- Secondary activities: nutritional advice or selling supplements changes the risk
- 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 weight plate slides off the bar and lands on the foot of another member in the gym | Yes | No |
| You drop a kettlebell on the laminate floor at a client's home | Yes | No |
| A client is left with complaints after an exercise you had him continue although he had reported a back problem | Provided that | No |
| Your advice on supplements costs a competitive athlete his licence after a positive test | No | Yes |
| A client claims back the remainder of his training package because the promised result did not materialise | No | No |
| You lose turnover because the gym bars you from the premises after an incident | No | No |
With injury to a client the question is not whether there is an injury, but whether you could have foreseen it.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A client tears a cruciate ligament during my training. Is that covered?
Only if you are liable, and with sport that cannot be taken for granted. An injury is to some extent part of exercise. The insurer assesses whether the exercise matched the client's capacity, whether you explained the technique and whether you built up the load gradually. If it turns out you ignored a known complaint, liability is quickly established and the policy pays the injury claim.
Is an exclusion of liability in my standard terms enough?
Not as a fallback. An exclusion clause can work for financial loss, but with injury or serious fault it rarely holds up, certainly not against a consumer. Besides, an exclusion does nothing about the cost of defence. It is precisely those costs, which mount up quickly in an injury dispute, that a liability insurer bears.
What if I am off work with an injury myself?
Your own injury falls outside this insurance. It covers only what you cause to others. As a self-employed person you have no employer continuing to pay you, so being off work means an immediate loss of turnover. There is disability insurancefor that, with a waiting period and an end age you choose yourself.
I also coach clients online abroad. Does that change anything?
Yes, in two respects. The territorial scope of your policy must include those countries; many policies cover Europe as standard and exclude the United States and Canada. On top of that, remote coaching moves the risk from injury to advice, and therefore to pure financial loss. Report both when you apply; Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code requires a complete declaration.
Read more
Within Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering fitnessstudio
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering trainer zzp
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering recreatie zzp
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering rondleidingen bedrijf
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering vereniging
- Bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering trainingsbureau
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