Injury and property damage
- Injury to third parties
- Damage to buildings and goods
- Consequential loss from that damage
- Defence against unfounded claims
AVB · BAV · employers' liability
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) and public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) for your business
Public and employers' liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance are two different policies that do not replace each other. The first covers injury and damaged property, the second the financial loss caused by a mistake in your work.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroeps- en bedrijfsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor uw bedrijf.
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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 (AVB) covers liability in law for injury to people and damage to property that your business causes to third parties. Think of a customer who falls over a loose cable, a sack truck that damages a floor or a leak that destroys the neighbour's stock. The basis is usually the tort provision of Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code; for the mistakes of your employees you are liable on the basis of Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code.
A second and often underestimated part of the AVB is employers' liability. Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code places on you a duty of care for a safe working environment. If an employee is injured, you are liable unless you can show that you met that duty of care. So the burden of proof lies with you. The AVB pays for the injury, the loss of earning capacity and the cost of the defence, and with permanent injury those amounts mount up quickly.
The professional indemnity insurance (BAV) covers something else: pure financial loss, the financial loss suffered by a client that arises without anything being broken or anyone being injured. A wrong calculation, a missed time limit, advice that is incorrect. That loss falls expressly outside the AVB. If you advise, design, calculate or supervise, you need both policies; if you work only with your hands, the AVB is usually enough.
Where is the line between the AVB and the BAV?
The distinction lies in the type of loss: physical and identifiable, or purely financial.
Employers' liability
Claims by your own staff after an accident at work or an occupational illness.
- Duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code
- Also for hired-in workers and students on placement
- Loss of earning capacity
- Traffic damage falls outside this
Financial loss
Financial loss suffered by a client through a mistake in your services.
- Advice, calculation and design errors
- Missed deadlines and steps left undone
- Usually on a claims-made basis
- Watch the run-in and run-off risk
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A visitor breaks a wrist on your business premises | Yes | No |
| An employee is injured by an unsafe machine | Yes | No |
| A client suffers a loss of turnover because of your calculation error | No | Yes |
| Repairing or replacing your own defective work | No | No |
| A client's property you have in your care temporarily | Provided that | No |
| A fine or penalty payment from a regulator | No | No |
Which sections are included and which limits and excesses apply is set out in the policy conditions and on the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) that you receive before you take out cover.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that determine whether a claim is actually paid.
The AVB does not pay for your own work
The best-known disappointment: an AVB never pays for repairing or replacing the item you yourself supplied or worked on defectively. If you lay a roof that leaks, the insurer pays for the water damage to the contents below, but not for laying the roof again. That is your business risk and it follows from the breach-of-contract provisions of Article 6:74 of the Dutch Civil Code, not from the tort provision the policy is intended for.
A BAV runs on a claims-made basis
Where the AVB usually looks at the moment the loss occurs, the BAV looks at the moment the claim is made. That has two consequences. Mistakes made before the start date are only covered with retroactive cover, and claims that come in after the policy ends only with run-off cover. If you close your business or move insurer, arrange that run-off cover expressly; otherwise you are unprotected for years for work you had already completed.
What belongs on neither policy
The following are excluded, among others: damage caused by intent or wilful recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, fines, penalty payments and punitive damages, damage caused with a motor vehicle for which the insurance requirement under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) applies, and liability that goes beyond the law because you took it on by contract, for example through a guarantee or a penalty clause. Environmental pollution, asbestos and damage to property in your care are also restricted or excluded as standard.
Report in time, and report borderline cases too
Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to report an event as soon as you reasonably know of it. So do not wait for a solicitor's letter: a complaint, an accident or a demand for payment can already be the trigger. Never admit liability yourself and make no promises about payment; that is the insurer's job. If you do, it can restrict the cover.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover — the usual basis for calculation
- Sector and activities — construction and industry weigh more heavily
- Number of employees — including hired-in staff and agency workers
- Sum insured — per claim and per year
- Area of cover — the Netherlands, Europe or worldwide
- Claims history — previous claims and notifications
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
How we arrange it
- You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, risk and wishes.
- We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
- You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
- We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
9.5New policy
9.8Claims handling
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often about this.
Can I manage with just an AVB?
You can when your work is almost entirely hands-on and mistakes translate immediately into damaged property or injury. As soon as you advise, design, calculate, act as an intermediary or keep records, the risk of pure financial loss arises and that falls outside the AVB. Professional indemnity insurance is then the missing piece.
What exactly is care, custody and control?
Care, custody and control concerns someone else's property that you have in your care: hired equipment, a car in for repair, goods you work on or transport. If you damage it, that is not ordinary damage to a third party and the cover is excluded as standard. Many insurers offer a separate care, custody and control section, always with a lower limit of its own and often with an excess.
Are the self-employed professionals I hire in covered?
For injury to themselves, usually yes, because Article 7:658 subsection 4 of the Dutch Civil Code extends your duty of care to everyone working on your instructions. For damage they cause to third parties it depends on the policy and on whether you have declared them as co-insured. Report numbers and activities on your application.
What if an employee has an accident on the road?
Road accident losses involving staff generally fall outside the AVB. An employer can, however, be liable on the basis of good employment practice for loss an employee suffers on the road during work. There is separate employers' liability cover for motor vehicles for that, often as an addition to the business motor policy.
How high should the sum insured be?
That depends on your activities and on what goes wrong when it really goes wrong. With injury it is not your turnover that determines the claim, but the victim's loss of income and cost of care. Clients also often set minimum requirements in the contract. So make the sum you choose match your largest project, not your average one.
Read more
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Also relevant
AVB, BAV or both?
Request a quotation without obligation; we determine which of the two covers really deals with your risk.
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About our service
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
This page was written and checked by an adviser at Finass Verzekert. Last updated on .
The information on this page is general in nature and is not personal advice.