Self-ignition · lithium batteries · soil risk
Insuring a recycling company through OOM Verzekeringen
In recycling, fire is not an exception but a recurring scenario. Insurers therefore do not accept the business; they accept the measures with which you detect that fire early.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Een recyclingbedrijf verzekeren via OOM Verzekeringen.
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
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Finass places business through OOM Verzekeringen among others and compares more than thirty insurers objectively. In the waste and recycling sector the market is narrow: many insurers have withdrawn from this trade, and those that remain work with strict prevention conditions. The outcome therefore depends less on the premium and more on your file. For the way cover on the buildings themselves is arranged, the buildings insurance is the point of comparison.
What sets it apart is self-ignition. Mixed streams, paper, plastics and shredder residue heat up in the core of a pile; lithium-ion batteries that end up in the wrong container ignite when deformed in a baler or shredder. That is not a theoretical scenario but the most common cause of fire in this sector. In insurance terms that is a problem, because damage caused by heating, fermentation and inherent defect is excluded on almost every policy: the fire that destroys your hall starts in material that is not itself covered. Insurers therefore require thermal cameras, temperature monitoring, firefighting provisions, maximum pile sizes and a procedure for moving material outside.
The second theme is the soil. Leaching from a waste stream, a leaking storage container or firefighting water leaving the site can cause contamination for which you are responsible as the operator of the installation. Clean-up costs are not fire damage and belong on an environmental damage insurance. Damage to third parties beyond your site runs through the public and employers' liability insurance; under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code the question is then whether you could have prevented the dangerous situation.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare buildings insurance (opstalverzekering).
What to look out for
Four points that make the difference in this trade between being insured and not.
Prevention is the condition of acceptance
Thermal imaging cameras with alarm monitoring, a fire monitor, separate storage bays, a maximum pile height and a practised procedure for moving material outside all appear on the policy as clauses. If you depart from them at the time of a loss, that is not a detail but a question of cover. Record maintenance, tests and evacuation drills in writing and keep the logs from your detection system, because that is the first thing a loss adjuster asks for.
The permitted quantity is a limit
Your environmental permit determines how much material may be held per stream and for how long. Insurers adopt those limits. If sales stagnate and more material lies on the site than the permit allows, you are in breach and possibly uninsured as well. Fines, penalty payments and the cost of administrative enforcement are never insured either, not even where the excess arose through no fault of yours.
Machines break in a different way from how they burn
A shredder, baler, screen or conveyor is damaged by metal in the stream, by a gas cylinder exploding or by overloading. Machinery breakdown is not covered on a fire policy; for that there is a separate machinery breakdown insurance. Mobile equipment on the site, such as a sorting grab or a loading shovel, runs through plant and machinery and not through the buildings policy.
A shutdown lasts longer than you think
After a major fire not only is the hall gone, the site also has to be cleaned up and the permit process gone through again before you may restart. An indemnity period of six months is then too short. On the business interruption insurance choose a period that covers the whole process, and bear in mind that loss of turnover through the loss of a contract or a permit is not an insured consequence.
What does your premium depend on?
- Waste streams processed: mixed waste, plastics and electronics weigh more heavily than clean rubble
- Presence of batteries in the stream: the leading cause of fire at present
- Detection and firefighting provisions: thermal monitoring, alarm transmission and available firefighting water
- Storage quantities and site layout: bay size, pile height and separation between streams
- Value of buildings and installations: the basis for buildings and for the machinery separately
- Position relative to surrounding businesses: this determines the scale of the fire-spread and liability risk
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Buildings and installations | Environmental damage |
|---|---|---|
| A lithium battery ignites in the baler and the sorting hall burns out | Yes | No |
| Storm tears roof sheets from the shed and damages the conveyor beneath | Yes | No |
| The batch of shredder residue in which the heating started is lost | No | No |
| Contaminated firefighting water reaches the ditch behind the site | No | Yes |
| The soil beneath a leaking storage container has to be cleaned up | No | Yes |
| A piece of metal in the feed damages the rotor of the shredder | No | No |
Breakdown of a machine without fire or explosion runs through machinery breakdown insurance, and mobile equipment through plant and machinery cover.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is fire caused by heating in my own waste pile covered?
The fire damage to buildings and installations is generally covered, but the damage to the material in which the heating started usually is not: that is inherent defect. The insurer will also check whether you complied with the agreed prevention conditions. If temperature monitoring or the prescribed pile height was missing, payment may be reduced or refused.
Who pays for clearing and cleaning up the site?
On a fire policy, clearance costs have their own section with a limit, which is quickly too low after a large fire. Cleaning up soil or groundwater does not fall under it and belongs on environmental damage insurance, which distinguishes between contamination on your own site and at third parties. Arrange both, because the first without the second leaves the largest amount uninsured.
What happens if an employee is injured at the shredder?
Then the duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code applies. You must show that you had guarded the machine, given instruction and supervised the work. If you cannot, you are in principle liable. That is employer’s liability and belongs on public and employers’ liability insurance (AVB). Hired-in and agency staff are covered as well, through subsection 4 of that article.
Do I have to report changes in my waste streams?
Yes, immediately. A new stream can change the risk profile materially, for instance through batteries, mattresses or artificial grass. Article 7:928 DCC requires you to give correct information when the policy is taken out, and policies also contain a change-of-risk clause. Withholding information almost always comes to light, because after a fire it is investigated exactly what was on site.
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