Business activity · crew contracts · medevac
Liability insurance for self-employed people in offshore work
As a self-employed person at sea you always work within someone else's contract. After an incident the first conversation is therefore not about fault, but about whose policy the loss lands on and whether your own policy mentions work offshore at all.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor zzp'ers in de offshore.
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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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- 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 pays for injury and property damage you cause to others, with Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code as the basis. For you, though, it starts a step earlier, with the policy schedule itself. A policy taken out for work in the Netherlands stops in law at the coastline; installations, cable routes and wind turbines lie beyond it. Have the business activity describe literally what you do — fitter, technician, inspector, rope access, marine coordinator — and have the working area named separately. A policy stating only 'technical services' is worth an argument when a claim arises on a platform.
The second layer is the crew contract. You are rarely hired directly by the operator, but through a crewing agency, a main contractor or a vessel owner. In that chain the loss is allocated by contract before an insurer is involved at all: the party above you has you sign that you indemnify him, and that you maintain liability insurance with a minimum amount per claim. Liability you take on purely by contract is excluded on the AVB as standard. So what you sign and what you have insured must match.
Three items are certain to end up with you. Your your own injury: liability insurance pays only injured parties, not yourself, and at a location where a medical evacuation takes hours that is a real scenario — your income is secured only by disability insurance. Your your own tools and measuring equipment are your own property and belong on tools insurance. And the component or installation you are working on is in your in your care: that is care, custody and control and is excluded on almost every policy. How an offshore company deals with the same questions is set out under the version for offshore companies.
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 lead to a rejection for self-employed people offshore more often than what actually happened.
What is on your policy schedule, not what you do
Insurers assess your risk on the basis of the activities described. If you do something extra along the way — slinging a load once, helping with a transfer, an emergency repair outside your discipline — that may fall outside the business activity. Report an extension of your activities before the job; Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code places the duty of disclosure on you.
Indemnities you sign on joining
Contracts in this sector allocate loss in advance: each party bears its own people and equipment. As a one-person business you sign up to that with no room to negotiate. Have the wording assessed in advance, because a contractual indemnity above your liability in law is not insured, and neither are penalties or reductions in your day rate.
Your own safety at a location with no hospital
If you work under someone else's direction, he can be liable for your accident at work under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code , even without a contract of employment. That helps with recovering a loss, but it does nothing for the period when you cannot work and it gives no cover for the costs of transport and repatriation.
What you touch is not yours
A turbine, jacket, cable end or pump set is in your hands without being your property. If you damage the object itself, the care, custody and control exclusionoperates; if you also damage surrounding property or someone is injured, that is damage to third parties. That difference determines the outcome of virtually every offshore claim.
What does your premium depend on?
- Described business activity — inspection weighs differently from mechanical work or rope access
- Offshore working area — Dutch continental shelf or British, Danish or German sectors as well
- Type of installation — oil and gas, wind farm or cable and pipeline work
- Turnover or number of days worked — the usual measure for one-person businesses
- Requested sum insured — the client's contract often prescribes a minimum
- Run-off period — important with exposure claims that surface later
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| While breaking a flange you damage the cable tray running right beside it | Yes | No |
| An employee of the vessel owner slips on hydraulic oil from your test set-up | Yes | No |
| Your measuring equipment falls into the sea during the transfer between vessel and platform | No | No |
| The main contractor cuts your day rate because the job overran by two days | No | No |
| You close the wrong valve and the operator claims half a day of lost production | No | Yes |
| Your inspection report does not mention a corrosion point and the section has to be replaced a year later | No | Yes |
If your offshore working area is not on the policy schedule, the argument starts with cover and not with fault.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often about this.
My policy mentions only the Netherlands. Am I covered on a platform?
That cannot be taken for granted. An installation on the continental shelf lies outside Dutch territory in the ordinary sense, and many policies are limited to work on land. Ask for written confirmation naming the area, and keep it with your contract. An assurance by telephone does not help you if an insurer raises the question of cover.
I work through a crewing agency. Am I covered under their policy?
No. That insurance covers that agency's liability, not yours. If you cause damage, the operator holds the agency liable and the agency then recovers from you, usually under the contract you signed. A policy of your own with a sum insured matching that contractual requirement is therefore in practice a condition of getting the work.
My tool box falls into the water. Is that paid for?
Not under liability insurance, because that pays only for the losses of others. The loss of your own equipment belongs on tools or transit cover, where you do need to check whether loss overboard is included. If the falling box hits a third party or an installation, the liability cover comes into play.
I am giving up offshore work in a year. Can an old job still come back?
Yes. Claims about exposure or about a joint that only fails at a later inspection sometimes come years later. Whether there is cover for that then depends on the cover basis of your policy and on the run-off you have arranged. Do that when you cancel the insurance and report an event from which you expect a loss immediately; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code calls for notification as soon as you are reasonably aware of it.
Read more
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