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.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
That is the peculiar thing about scaffolding: at the moment the risk materialises you are usually no longer there. The scaffold stands for weeks, is used by painters, insulation fitters and installers, and is altered in the meantime by someone not qualified to do so. If the structure then fails, the first question is not whether you were at fault but who made the last alteration and whether you could have known about it.
The loss is rarely purely material. A collapse or a falling scaffold component means injury to third parties and to other contractors' employees, and that is the heaviest category on a liability insurance for businesses. For your own fitters, Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code also applies: if someone falls during erection or dismantling, you have to prove that you complied with your duty of care, not the other way round.
On the policy we separate three things that are often mixed up: liability for damage to third parties, cover for your own scaffolding materials and cover for your staff. Scaffolding material stolen or damaged on a building site does not fall under liability but under plant and machinery insurance. Without that separation, a gap arises exactly where most of the money is.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
The scaffold tag is your evidence
On completion, an inspection with a dated scaffold tag belongs at the access point. That tag records the condition in which you released the structure and for which loading class. If a guard rail is then removed or a board moved by a third party, liability shifts to whoever did it. Without a tag and without a record of the handover, you are empty-handed before the loss adjuster.
Anchoring, wind loading and facade sheeting
Most failures arise not from overloading but from anchoring not fitted as calculated, or from netting and sheeting added later. Sheeting turns an open structure into a windbreak and multiplies the forces on the anchors. If the main contractor fits sheeting to your scaffold, record in writing that the calculation must be adjusted accordingly.
Your own material does not fall under liability
If a load of scaffold tube disappears from the site or material is damaged by an excavator, that is damage to your own property. Liability insurance pays nothing for it. It is there for third parties' losses. Insure your stock of tubes, couplers and boards separately, including transport to site and storage at varying locations, and keep an up-to-date materials record.
What falls outside the cover
Re-erecting a scaffold you assembled incorrectly yourself is repair of your own work and is excluded. Fines from the labour inspectorate after an accident are uninsurable. The main contractor's delay costs because work is at a standstill are pure financial loss and fall outside liability cover. And damage to items in your charge, such as a hired cherry picker, is only covered where care, custody and control cover is included.
What does your premium depend on?
Working area. Housebuilding and renovation weigh less heavily than industry, petrochemicals or work above a public road or railway.
Types of structure. Facade and mobile scaffolds, suspended scaffolds, grandstands and event structures each have their own acceptance criteria.
Working height. Height determines both the fall height for your fitters and the reach of falling components.
Payroll and number of engineers. The size of the workforce is the basis for the employer's liability section.
Replacement value of the scaffolding material. Determines the sum insured on the equipment cover, including material lying on site.
Inspection and record-keeping regime. A recorded handover with a scaffold tag and periodic re-inspection reduce both the risk and the premium.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, your risk and your 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.
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.
A third party has altered my scaffold and someone falls. Who is liable?
In principle whoever made the alteration, but you must be able to show that you handed over the structure sound and inspected and that the alteration did not come from you. The scaffold tag, the inspection report and your record of notifications provide that evidence. If those are missing, it is assumed that the structure was handed over by you in that state.
Is a fitter who falls during erection covered by my liability insurance?
Yes, through the employer's liability section. Under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code the burden of proof is on you to show that you complied with your duty of care: fall protection, an assembly plan, instruction and supervision. If that proof fails, you are liable for injury and loss of income. That also applies to hired-in workers and agency workers working under your direction.
I also hire out scaffolding material without erection. Is that covered?
Not automatically. Hiring out without erection is a different capacity from erection in-house, and insurers assess it separately because you then have no control over the assembly. Declare hiring out expressly on the application and record in your hire conditions who is responsible for erection, inspection and handover.
Do I need construction all risks (CAR) insurance as well as liability cover?
If you work as a subcontractor on a project, you are often covered under the main contractor's CAR policy, but usually only for the works themselves and not for your ancillary equipment. Check the main contractor's policy for the ancillary equipment section and for the excess passed on to you.
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.
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