Staff on site · alarm response · contract requirements
Liability insurance for a security company
A security company is liable for what its people do on someone else's premises, and is also held to account under contract for what it did not see.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een beveiligingsbedrijf.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
On public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) everything turns on injury and property damage to third parties. For a security company that runs through Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code: you are liable for the mistakes of your subordinates. What a patrol officer or event steward does on site therefore comes back to you. That covers injury during an ejection or detention, but just as often everyday damage to property: a barrier that is hit, a door forced during an alarm call, an installation damaged during a round.
Your second risk is in the contract, not in the statute book. Clients work with service level agreements about response times, patrol frequency and reporting. If those are not met and a break-in follows, the client claims the value of the goods stolen or a penalty. That is pure financial loss and is excluded on the AVB; fines and contractual penalty clauses are excluded almost everywhere. Such a claim belongs on professional indemnity insurance, provided it is tailored to your services.
As a licensed organisation under the Wet particuliere beveiligingsorganisaties en recherchebureaus (the Dutch Private Security Organisations and Detective Agencies Act) you also have obligations around screening, training and identification of your staff. Insurers use that as a test: an employee without valid screening who causes damage leads to discussion about your own care. For the staff themselves the duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies, and through subsection 4 it also applies to hired-in workers and self-employed people working under your direction.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to look out for
Four subjects that determine the question of cover for a security organisation.
Key management and master key systems
A lost bunch of keys for a large building means replacing cylinders and sometimes a whole master key system. Those items were in your in your care and fall under the care, custody and control exclusion. Arrange separate key cover, work with numbered issue and record the return of keys when employment ends.
Alarm response and control room arrangements
A missed alarm or one responded to too late leads to a claim for the consequential loss. Without injury or damaged property that remains financial loss. Limit the risk by logging every alarm and response, and agree a limitation of liability in the contract that matches what you can actually insure.
Patrol cars and staff on the road
Damage involving a motor vehicle falls outside the AVB; Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) requires a separate insurance for each vehicle. If your staff drive for work, you also carry employers' liability for road accidents. That is the province of WEGAS and WEGAM, not of the AVB.
Camera footage and access data
You process footage, visitor records and access logs belonging to your customers. If those leak, the people concerned can rely on Article 82 of the GDPR and your client has a problem that it puts on you. Investigation, remediation and liability belong on a cyber insurance; a fine from the regulator is not insurable.
What does your premium depend on?
- Payroll and number of employees: the core of both the exposure and the employers' liability section
- Mix of services: events and hospitality lead to injury claims more often than premises patrols
- Number of premises managed: more keys and alarms means more care, custody and control risk
- Use of self-employed contractors: self-employed people are not automatically covered on your policy
- Fleet for mobile patrols: brings a separate insurance requirement with it
- 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 patrol officer responding to an alarm forces the door of the wrong business premises | Yes | No |
| An event steward pushes a visitor, who breaks a wrist in the process | Yes | No |
| An employee without valid screening causes damage at a customer's premises | Provided that | No |
| Your control room passes on a burglar alarm too late and the customer claims for the stolen stock | No | Yes |
| A customer's camera footage ends up in the open through a mistake by your systems administrator | No | Provided that |
| The customer relies on the penalty clause for an exceeded response time | No | No |
Everything your people break or cause falls under the AVB, everything you failed to deliver falls under the BAV or under nothing at all.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
An employee uses excessive force. Is our company covered then?
Towards the injured party you are liable as the employer under Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code. Whether your insurer pays depends on the intent provision: Article 7:952 DCC excludes damage caused by intent or recklessness, and many policies apply that exclusion per insured person. In that case cover for the company can continue while the employee concerned falls outside cover.
A customer claims for the loss from a break-in during our watch. Does the AVB pay?
No. The stolen goods were not damaged by you. The customer says you failed to deliver a result. That is pure financial loss and falls outside public and employers' liability insurance. Professional indemnity cover is needed for that, with conditions that match alarm response and patrolling.
We hire in self-employed security officers. Who insures what?
As standard, your policy covers your own subordinates. If you want to bring self-employed people you engage under your cover, that has to be stated expressly on the policy schedule. If you do not do that, require liability insurance of their own with a suitable capacity and record that in the framework agreement, including the obligation to report incidents.
Our contracts contain high penalty clauses. Are those insurable?
Fines and contractual penalty clauses are excluded on liability insurance, because with them you take on an obligation that goes further than the law imposes on you. What is insurable is the loss for which you would already be liable without that clause. Have contract wordings set alongside your policy conditions before you sign, therefore.
Read more
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