Liability insurance for a roofing company
A roofer almost always works on someone else's property, with naked flames and at height. Those three facts together determine which part of a loss your policy bears.
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In brief
The public and employers' liability insurance covers personal injury and damage to property that you cause to others. In roofing work the discussion starts with the care, custody and control exclusion. The roof you are standing on, the roof edge you are re-forming and the insulation you are laying are items you have in your care. If you damage that very part, the loss is excluded under the standard conditions. Water damage that then arises in the home or business premises below is damage to other property and does in principle fall within the cover.
The second point is fire. Working with a gas torch, hot bitumen or a heat gun falls under the hot work clause. Virtually every insurer attaches hard conditions to it: a check round afterwards, fire-fighting equipment within reach, screened edges and no naked flames near timber or thatched structures. If those are not met, the fire damage is not covered. That is not a formality but a warranty clause, and the burden of proving you complied with it lies with you.
The third point is your staff. Working at height is the main source of serious injury in this trade. Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to provide a safe workplace and to supervise the use of edge protection, roof anchors and scaffolding; subsection 4 extends that obligation to roofers hired in and self-employed people working under your direction. For the project risk itself, such as storm or water damage to a roof still lying open, there is Construction all risks (CAR) insurance for roofers.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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What to look out for
Four points on which a claim in roofing work founders more often than on the level of the sum insured.
The roof itself is in your care
If you tear the roof covering, break tiles or damage a rooflight you walk across, it is damage to an item in your care. Some insurers offer limited care, custody and control cover, but the part you are actually working on remains outside the cover under most conditions. Record the condition of the roof before you start with photographs.
A leak after completion is often your own work
If a seam or a joint at an upstand turns out not to be watertight, redoing your work is your own work and not an insured loss. New rolls, new hours and new scaffolding are at your expense. The moisture that has damaged the customer's ceiling, floor or contents in the meantime is damage to someone else's property.
Falling material and the public road
A tile, a piece of timber or a tool bag coming off the roof leads to liability in tort under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. If the building itself is defective and part of the roof comes down, Article 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code affects the owner. Barriers, nets and supervision determine who bears what in a loss of that kind.
Asbestos and pollution
Finding or removing asbestos-containing roof covering is excluded on virtually every AVB and calls for a certified business. environmental damage is limited as well: only sudden, unforeseen pollution is sometimes included. Soil remediation after bitumen has washed away or fire-fighting water has run off belongs on an environmental damage insurance.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover and payroll: the usual measure for size and staff risk
- Share of hot work: a gas torch and bitumen weigh more heavily than cold bonding
- Types of roof: private pitched roofs differ from industrial flat roofs
- Subcontracting and hired-in labour: whoever you engage counts in your own risk profile
- Care, custody and control cover: included or not, and up to what amount
- Claims history: earlier fire or leak claims work through in the acceptance
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| An employee lowers a hoist skip onto the neighbours' conservatory | Yes | No |
| An occupant is taken ill from bitumen fumes drawn in through an open window | Yes | No |
| Rain runs into a roof left open overnight and the shop below is flooded | Provided that | No |
| The outrigger of your crane lorry pushes the paving slabs out of place and the council sends the bill | No | No |
| The customer demands compensation for higher heating costs from badly laid roof insulation | No | Provided that |
| The main contractor recovers the client's delay penalty from your business | No | No |
With a roof lying open, the weather forecast and the way it was covered weigh heavily in the assessment.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I caused a fire in a house with the torch. Is that covered?
Fire damage to someone else's building and contents is damage to property and fits within the AVB. What is decisive is whether you complied with the hot work clause: the check afterwards, fire-fighting equipment, screening and no flames on unknown structures. If you cannot show that, the insurer may refuse cover, because it is a warranty clause and not a recommendation.
The customer complains of a leaking roof. Does the insurance pay for the repair?
No, not for repairing your own work. Relaying roof covering that is not watertight is your contractual performance and not damage to someone else. What the insurance can bear is the consequential loss: damaged plasterwork, soaked insulation, damaged floors or contents. Report such a claim in good time, because Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to do so.
A roofer hired in falls off the roof. Am I liable?
Probably yes. Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code puts the hirer on the same footing as the employer for people carrying out work under his direction, including self-employed people. The insurer then tests whether edge protection, anchor points and instruction were in place and whether their use was supervised. Employers' liability does have to appear as a separate section on your policy for that.
What cover do I need alongside the AVB?
For damage to the works themselves during execution, for example where a storm brings rain into an open roof, a CAR insurance is intended. Plant and tools usually fall outside that and need cover of their own. And loss suffered by an employee as a driver on the way to a job belongs with WEGAS and WEGAM.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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