Liability insurance for a photo studio
A photographic studio brings strangers into a space full of cables, stands and heavy lights. As soon as you hire the studio out as well, the liability question shifts from your work to your building.
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In brief
People who do not know the premises come into a photographic studio: clients, models, make-up artists, couriers. If someone trips over a weighted cable, a background system comes out of its wall bracket or a C-stand with a heavy softbox topples, that is injury to a third party and classic AVB territory. If you own the building, Article 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code comes on top of that: as the possessor of a structure you are liable for defective parts, even without doing anything culpable.
If you hire the studio out by the half-day to other photographers, your role changes. You are then supplying a space with power circuits, movable rails and flash equipment that a third party relies on. Report that hiring out expressly when you apply and have it recorded whether the hirer counts as an insured person. If you work in hired premises yourself, have the clause for tenant's liability included for fire and water damage to the building.
What the studio policy does not deal with: your own contents and equipment, for which you need business contents insurance, and your loss of turnover after a fire, for which there is business interruption insurance. Claims about unusable image material belong on professional indemnity insurance. The structure of the AVB is set out on the hub page.
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 lead to argument at a studio with its own premises more often than the premium.
Clients' clothing, products and props
A collection left with you for a product shoot, a wedding dress hanging on the rail or a brand's set of jewellery: you have that property in your in your care. The care, custody and control exclusion takes damage to it off the AVB. For a studio that shoots a lot of products, separate care, custody and control or goods cover is not a luxury, with clear arrangements about delivery and return.
Smoke, fire and use of the premises
Smoke machines, hazers and hot lights lead to fire alarms and sometimes to real fires. Insurers therefore set requirements about firefighting equipment, electrical inspection and the management of extension leads. A clause not complied with can affect payment. Keep the report of the last electrical inspection and the instructions you give hirers.
Models, work placement students and make-up artists
Your duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code applies to employees and, under subsection 4, to work placement students and hired-in workers who work under your direction as well. Think of working on a ladder, lifting background rolls and climbing to a rail. Record instruction and supervision in writing; in an injury claim that is the first thing requested.
Hiring out without supervision
If you let hirers work in the studio unsupervised, the question is who is liable if one of their guests falls. Deal with that in your hire terms, require liability insurance of your own from the hirer and confirm with your insurer that unsupervised hiring out falls within the business activity described. Liability accepted by contract that goes beyond the law is often excluded.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover and share of hire: hiring out to third parties weighs more heavily than your own productions
- Payroll and number of employees: decisive for the employers' liability section
- Ownership or rental of the premises: liability as possessor of the building against tenants' liability
- Visitor numbers: members of the public in the studio increase the chance of injury
- Care, custody and control cover included: for clients' products and clothing
- 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 client suffers a burn from a studio light that has just been switched off | Yes | No |
| Water from your studio comes through the ceiling of the business below you | Yes | No |
| A wheeled light stand rolls away and damages a visitor's car on your premises | Yes | No |
| The client demands a completely new shoot because the files turn out to be unusable | No | Yes |
| Your own flashguns and background systems are lost in a fire in the studio | No | No |
| After that fire the studio stands idle for weeks and you lose the turnover from bookings | No | No |
Damage to your own studio and to your turnover runs through business contents and business interruption insurance, not through liability.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A client has fallen in the studio. What happens then?
You report the claim to your insurer and leave the handling there. The insurer investigates whether you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code or, where the premises are defective, Article 6:174 DCC. Do not admit liability before the insurer has given its view. An admission can harm your position. The cost of defence usually falls within cover.
Is a client's collection insured while it is in the studio?
Not under the standard AVB. Property you have in your care for treatment, processing or safekeeping falls under the care, custody and control exclusion. Separate care, custody and control cover or goods insurance for third parties' property solves that. Also set out in your terms how delivery, storage and return are handled, so that it is clear afterwards when the risk was with you.
What if a fire starts because of my lighting?
Damage to a third party's building and to neighbours' property is a liability loss and falls under the AVB in principle, provided you are liable. Your own equipment and contents do not fall under it. You insure those with a business contents policy. Your downtime and lost bookings are insured with business interruption cover. Watch for any prevention clauses in the conditions.
I have just started hiring out. Do I have to report that?
Yes. Hiring your studio out to third parties is a change in your business activities and therefore in the risk. Report it in writing. If it turns out afterwards that the insurer would have set different terms had it known of that activity, it can rely on Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code and adjust or refuse payment.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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