Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) through De Goudse
Anyone who comes to a client's premises to make or maintain something is working on someone else's property. That is where practice collides hardest with the policy conditions.
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In brief
Finass arranges cover from the business range of De Goudse, an insurer we often use for small and medium-sized businesses and self-employed professionals in the trades, installation and maintenance. We are not tied to this insurer and compare more than thirty companies objectively. The AVB covers injury and property damage that you cause to others; how the sections are put together is set out on the hub page on the AVB.
When you work on site, everything turns on the care, custody and control exclusion. Property you have in your care in order to work on it, repair it, store it or transport it is excluded. That is not a marginal provision but the heart of your daily practice: the boiler you are servicing, the floor you are laying, the facade you are cleaning, the machine you are adjusting. If you damage that very object, it falls outside the cover, while damage to the rest of the building is covered.
On top of that, putting right your own work is never covered. If the connection you made comes loose and the premises are flooded, the insurer pays for the water damage to the floor, the contents and the ceiling, but not for making the connection again. For damage to the works under construction there is a construction all risks (CAR) and erection insurance. Errors in a calculation or a design belong with the professional indemnity insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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Business liability insurance (AVB)
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Get coveredWhy arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
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 provisions that determine the outcome of a claim when you work on site.
The object worked on falls outside cover, its surroundings do not
A fitter who hits a pipe while drilling causes damage to the building: covered. If he damages the installation he was fitting: excluded. A care, custody and control or processing clause softens that, usually with a separate limit and a higher excess. Ask about this explicitly, because without that clause you pay the most common type of loss yourself.
Hot work
Welding, cutting, soldering, heat-gun work and roofing with a naked flame fall under a hot work clause. It sets out what has to be done: clearing the work area, keeping extinguishers to hand, a check round afterwards and often a completed form. If you depart from it, the insurer may reduce the payment in the event of a fire. Keep the form, even for a half-hour job.
Subcontractors and hired-in workers
You can be held liable for the mistakes of a non-subordinate working on your instructions on the basis of Article 6:171 of the Dutch Civil Code; for the mistakes of your own staff, Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies. Have the policy state who falls within the group of insured parties and ask subcontractors for their own policy schedule. Otherwise you are left with a claim in your name that is not on your cover.
What stays outside the cover in any event
Excluded are intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code), fines and contractual penalty clauses, pure financial loss such as a client's loss through delay, and environmental pollution. A contractor who completes late and is charged a penalty as a result cannot recover those costs under the AVB. That is not loss within the meaning of this policy.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover and payroll: both bases occur, often with an annual adjustment
- Your activities: installation, maintenance, assembly or fitting out
- Working with naked flames: determines whether a hot work clause is needed
- Care, custody and control cover included: and the limit and excess that go with it
- Use of subcontractors: and whether they are insured themselves
- Working area: the Netherlands only or work across the border as well
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A visitor trips over your cable reel in the client's hallway and breaks a wrist | Yes | No |
| A section of scaffolding falls from the facade onto a parked car | Yes | No |
| Your employee is injured when a ladder slips on the work floor | Yes | No |
| The floor your employee is laying is damaged during the work | Provided that | No |
| You calculate the capacity of an installation too low and the client faces higher energy costs for years | No | Yes |
| You complete three weeks late and the client charges the agreed penalty | No | No |
The AVB follows the physical damage and the BAV the calculations; anyone who supplies both needs both policies.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I have damaged a floor at a client's premises. Is that covered?
That depends on what you were doing. If the floor was the object of your work, the care, custody and control exclusion applies and the AVB does not pay without an additional clause. If you were only walking over it with tools, it is ordinary property damage and it is covered. This is a fine line and it is assessed afresh on each claim in the light of your instructions.
Who pays for redoing my own work?
You do. Repairing or redoing your own work is a contractual obligation towards your client and not a liability loss. The insurance steps in for the consequential loss the mistake causes to others. So allow for that item of your own in your costing and in your terms of business.
Do I need CAR insurance as well as the AVB?
For building, conversion and erection projects, yes. Construction all risks insurance covers damage to the works themselves during the work, including materials on site, and that is precisely what the AVB does not do. For one-off maintenance jobs the AVB with a care, custody and control clause is often enough. We assess that by type of assignment rather than by type of business.
What if the client gives me the keys to their premises?
Then you effectively have the premises in your care while you are there, which sharpens the care, custody and control question. If there is a break-in because you left a door open, the insurer may rely on negligence. Record when you receive keys and when you hand them back. Report any loss as soon as you know about it, as Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB)The main page
- Liability insurance for a roofing companyCare, custody and control, hot work, leaks
- Liability insurance for a carpentry companyWorkshop, open facade, joinery supplied
- Liability insurance for a central heating firmCombustion gases, certification, hot work
- Liability insurance for a self-employed rooferOpen roof, torch, care, custody and control
- Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) through a.s.r.Staff, hired-in workers, occupational illness
- Liability insurance for an assembly companyWork at third parties' premises, commissioning, territorial scope
- Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) for weldersNaked flames, care, custody and control, consequential loss
- Liability insurance for an air conditioning firmRefrigerant, condensate drainage, certification