Fumigation · confined spaces · contract conditions
Liability insurance for a pest control firm
A pest control company works with substances that are toxic by definition, in customers' buildings and often outside office hours. After an incident three questions count: was the product authorised for this use, who was supervising, and is it about damaged property or about lost turnover.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een ongediertebestrijdingsbedrijf.
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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
At a pest control company two streams of claims run side by side. Outwards there are the customer, the occupants of a building and their goods. Inwards there is your own staff, who work every day with biocides, dust and sometimes with gases. Both streams belong on the public and employers' liability insurance, but the employers' liability section is a separate choice that you have to include expressly.
The employer side is heavier in this sector than in most. Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code calls for a demonstrable assessment of exposure, for personal protective equipment matching the product, for breathing air procedures in confined spaces and for supervision of compliance. Under subsection 4 that also applies to agency workers and to self-employed people you engage. Sickness reports connected with exposure still come back years later.
Outwards, the heaviest item is contamination of goods. If a batch of food, animal feed or packaging material is contaminated with residue, your customer can no longer sell it. If that batch also has to be withdrawn from the market, the costs of the recall itself are excluded on an AVB as standard; a separate recall module or product liability insurance needed.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to look out for
Four points that lead to argument at a pest control company more often than the premium.
Fumigation and confined spaces
Gaseous treatment in containers, silos or ships' holds is the most heavily conditioned part of this trade. Insurers set requirements about sealing, entry bans, gas measurement on release and the recording of it. If an employee of the customer or a driver enters a space that has not yet been released, it immediately means serious injury to a third party. Keep the measurement reports and the release certificate.
Keeping professional competence and supervision up to date
Certificates of professional competence have a limited validity. If someone carries on working with an expired certificate or without the right endorsement, you are breaching a statutory requirement and weakening your position in every claim settlement. Record the expiry dates in your planning and not in a folder, and keep demonstrable records of supervision.
What falls outside the cover
Excluded are the treated space or installation as property in your in your care, gradually occurring environmental harm, the costs of a recall, fines and penalty payments from regulators, intent under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, damage caused with a motor vehicle (Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)) and purely financial disadvantage such as the turnover a customer loses while closed.
What you promise in service contracts
Large clients put forward contracts with guarantees, penalty clauses and liability going beyond the law. Liability accepted by contract that exceeds liability in law is excluded on the AVB. Have such provisions checked in advance. Afterwards it often turns out you accepted a risk no insurer covers.
What does your premium depend on?
- Payroll and number of technicians: the measure for the staff risk
- Annual turnover: the scale of the work towards third parties
- Fumigation and gaseous treatment: the heaviest element in acceptance
- Sectors your clients work in: the food industry weighs differently from housing management
- Hired-in labour and subcontracting: whoever you engage counts towards your own profile
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A bucket of concentrate falls over and the floor covering in the customer's shop cannot be saved | Yes | No |
| A visitor slips on water your team left in the hall after cleaning | Yes | No |
| A technician at your company falls off the ladder in a crawl space and is off work for months | Provided that | No |
| The monitoring schedule you recommended turns out to be too thin, the audit score falls and a customer terminates the contract | No | Yes |
| The stainless steel tank you treated inside is dented while the seal is fitted | No | No |
| The customer claims the wages of his own staff who could not work during your treatment | No | No |
The employers' liability section is a separate choice. If it is not on your policy, the third row becomes a no as well.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A batch of a customer's goods has been contaminated. Is that covered?
The batch destroyed or rejected is someone else's property damage and can fall within cover, provided you worked in accordance with the authorisation. If it develops into a recall through the supply chain, that is a different matter: the costs of tracing, retrieving and destroying are excluded as standard and call for separate recall cover, which insurers only grant after a separate assessment.
An employee is left with complaints after exposure to a product. What happens then?
That is a claim under the employers' liability section, provided it is included. The insurer assesses whether you complied with your duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code: exposure assessment, protective equipment, instruction and supervision. Without that support you are liable in principle. Report such a claim in good time, because Article 7:941 DCC requires you to report the loss as soon as you are reasonably aware of it.
Does the insurer pay a fine from the NVWA or the labour inspectorate?
No. An administrative fine is a punishment and not compensation to an injured party, and it is excluded on almost every liability insurance. Legal expenses cover can bear the cost of defending against an enforcement decision. That is a separate insurance you take out apart from the AVB.
Who bears damage a subcontractor causes at a customer's premises?
Towards your client you remain answerable, because you accepted the job. Your own policy can cover that claim, after which the insurer can seek recovery from the subcontractor. Include in your purchasing conditions, therefore, that a subcontractor must have liability insurance of his own and ask for valid evidence each year.
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