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
A flanged joint almost never fails visibly during assembly. Things go wrong when the plant comes up to pressure and temperature and the bolts settle. Your liability therefore turns on being able to reconstruct the work: which gasket, which torque, which sequence and which fitter. Without those records you are simply one of the names on that day's work list.
Public and employers' liability insurance pays for the property damage and injury that follow from a leak: the product that escapes, the cleaning, the equipment affected. What it does not pay for is the cost of making your own joint again. Putting defective work right is excluded, however small that work is compared with the consequential loss around it.
If you also do flange calculations or choose gaskets and materials as well as assembly work, part of your risk shifts to pure financial loss. For that you need professional indemnity insurance. When we take stock we look at which of your activities are hands-on and which are advisory, because the two belong in different sections.
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.
Keep records for each joint, not for each day
After a leak the investigation works back to the joint and then to the fitter. Record for each flange which gasket you used, what torque you applied, in which sequence and with which tools, including the calibration certificate for your torque wrench or tensioning unit. Without those records the client can hold everyone who worked on that line liable, and you have to show under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code that you were not careless.
Nobody pays for putting your own work right
The policy covers what third parties suffer, not the cost of making good on your own work. If product escapes, the cleaning, the loss of product and the damaged equipment are another party's property damage. Dismantling, cleaning and retightening the flange itself remains at your expense, as do the hours you have to refund. That distinction runs through almost every leak case.
Choosing gaskets and materials is advice
If you advise on the type of gasket, the bolt material or the torque to be applied, a wrong choice is a professional mistake. If that choice turns out to be wrong without anything being broken, for instance because the plant may not run until everything has been redone, pure financial loss arises. That falls outside public and employers' liability. Anyone who fills both roles needs both covers.
You rarely work on that line alone
As a self-employed professional you usually work under a main contractor. That contractor can be held liable for your mistake on the basis of Article 6:171 of the Dutch Civil Code and then recovers it from you. Contracts often add an indemnity on top of that. Your insurer pays what you owe in law; liability you took on purely by contract falls outside it. So read that provision before you sign.
What does your premium depend on?
Pressure and temperature class. Work on high-pressure and high-temperature pipework weighs more heavily than building services or sanitary pipework.
The nature of the medium. Steam, gas and hazardous substances cause far greater consequential loss in a leak than water or compressed air.
Certification and tool management. Valid flange assembly certificates and demonstrably calibrated torque and tensioning tools work in your favour.
Advice alongside hands-on work. If you also do calculations or choose materials, a professional indemnity section is added and the structure changes.
Care, custody and control of pipe sections. Fittings and pipe sections you have in your care during the work are only covered with a separate extension.
Turnover, hired-in labour and claims history. Annual turnover is the basis for the calculation, hired-in workers count towards it and earlier leaks feed through into 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 activities, turnover 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.
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.
The leak only came to light months after completion. Does that still count?
That depends on the form of cover. On a policy that works from the moment the loss occurred, the date of the leak is decisive. On a claims-made basis, the date the claim reaches you counts. In both cases Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies: report as soon as you know of the claim. Waiting until the discussion has run its course costs you cover.
Does the insurer pay for refitting the flange?
No. Redoing or repairing your own work is excluded, because that is the work you were paid for. What the surrounding plant suffers, such as lost product, cleaning and damaged equipment, is another party's loss and that is covered. That distinction usually accounts for the largest part of the file.
My client is asking me to sign up for all consequential loss. Is that insured?
Only in so far as you would have been liable without that clause. The policy follows your liability in law. A contractual extension of it is excluded, as are penalties and reductions on your invoice. Send us such provisions in advance and we will look at whether the insurer accepts them or whether you have to negotiate about them.
I always work to the procedure. Why insure at all then?
Because the discussion is not about what you did, but about what you can prove. The insurance also pays for the defence against a claim that ultimately turns out to be unfounded, and with a plant shutdown, investigation, expert reports and legal assistance soon cost more than the job earned. Intent and wilful recklessness remain excluded on the basis of Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
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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