Liability insurance for a self-employed glazier
A glazier carries a fragile product through a home or along a facade. With every loss the question is whether the glass itself broke or something around it.
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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.
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In brief
The glass you carry, lift or fit is the item you are working on. If it breaks during installation, that engages the care, custody and control exclusion and the public and employers' liability insurance does not pay for it under the standard conditions. What happens outside the pane is a different matter: a damaged floor, a frame torn out, a scratch on an aluminium facade or a car hit on the drive is damage to someone else's property and does fall within cover in principle.
The second risk is injury. A sheet slipping out of the suction cups or a pane blown against a facade causes serious injury to passers-by and residents, and liability for that follows from Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. On a job at a private home with no barriers, that is a real scenario. If you are hired in on a project, the main contractor recovers from you; his policy does not cover your liability.
The third point is the choice of glass. If you advise on the glazing yourself, on laminated or toughened glass in a place where the standard requires it for instance, your risk shifts towards advice. If someone is injured because the wrong type was chosen, that is still property damage and injury; if it is only about the cost of replacement because the pane does not meet the requirement, that is pure financial loss which on a professional indemnity insurance belongs.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points on which a glazing claim stands or falls.
The pane during and after installation
As long as you are handling the sheet, it is property in your care, custody and control. Once it is in the frame and later breaks because of a stone or a storm, it is the owner's property and a matter for his glass insurance. Record the moment of handover, therefore. That moment determines which policy responds.
The route to the frame
Most things go wrong on the way: a door frame caught, a stair rail damaged, a poured floor scratched by a glazing trolley. That is ordinary property damage and covered. If the pane breaks going into or out of the van, it is transit damage to your own or purchased goods; there is goods in transit insurance.
Sealant work and leaks
If a glazing sealant or a wrongly placed setting block lets water through, resetting and resealing is your own work and not an insured loss. The moisture that has meanwhile damaged a wooden frame, a window sill or a parquet floor is.
Your own injury and your own equipment
Cuts and back problems come with this trade. As a self-employed person you are not covered for them under this policy: it pays only third parties. Income while you are off work is arranged with disability insurance, your suction cups and glazing trolleys with tools insurance.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual measure for a self-employed policy
- Type of work: domestic glazing differs from facade and curtain wall work
- Working at height: access platforms and scaffolding increase the injury risk
- Care, custody and control cover included: included or not, and up to what amount per event
- Excess: a deliberate choice where there are many small claims
- Claims history: breakage claims are frequent and count towards this
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A sheet is blown out of your hands against the car standing on the drive | Yes | No |
| A passer-by is injured by a shard of glass slipping out of the suction cups | Yes | No |
| A resident cuts himself on glass fragments you left on the terrace | Yes | No |
| You chose single glazing yourself where the standard requires laminated glass and everything has to be replaced | No | Yes |
| You measure up wrongly and the special pane has to be ordered again | No | Provided that |
| The main contractor recovers an extra day of crane hire after your breakage | No | No |
If it is only about money and not about damaged property, the question shifts to professional indemnity.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I break a pane while fitting it. Is that covered?
As a rule not. The glass you are handling at that moment is property in your care, and damage to property in your care is excluded as standard. Some insurers offer limited care, custody and control cover, often with an excess and a maximum per event. Ask about it expressly if you work with large or expensive sheets.
A passer-by is injured by a falling sheet. What then?
Injury to a third party is exactly what the AVB exists for. The basis is the wrongful act under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. The insurer does look at the circumstances: barriers, equipment, wind strength and whether you lifted alone only what you could reasonably lift alone. Report an incident of this kind straight away, even if you have not yet had a letter of claim.
The client says I supplied the wrong glass. Does the insurance cover that?
Only if injury or damage to other property follows from it. If it is purely about replacing the pane with the correct type, that is financial loss without damaged property and the AVB gives no cover. Record who made the choice of glass, therefore: the client, the architect, the supplier or you.
Do I work under the policy of the contractor who hires me?
No. That insurance covers that company's liability, not yours, and in practice he will in fact pass a loss on to you under the contract. Most clients therefore require a policy of your own with a minimum sum insured per claim before you can start work.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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