Liability insurance for a welder in the petrochemical industry
At a refinery or tank farm the loss is rarely the piece of pipe you are welding. It is the plant standing idle and the ground becoming contaminated, and those two are named on the standard policy as exclusions.
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In brief
Your work stands or falls with the permit regime. Without a valid work permit, gas test and release you do not work, and an insurer attaches a clause to that steering on the same points. If you depart from it, by carrying on after the gas test has expired for instance, that is not only a breach of the site rules but also a breach of a policy condition. Your own liability rests on Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code; the AVB pays the resulting injury and property damage suffered by others.
The large items fall outside it as standard. If a unit is down because a weld has to be done again, the client claims loss of production: money, with no damaged property, and therefore pure financial loss. If product escapes into the soil or surface water, the policy speaks of environmental damage, for which there is separate environmental damage insurance. And a contractual penalty for missing a shutdown date is liability you accepted yourself, also excluded.
Finally, pay attention to the timeline of your cover. Exposure to hexavalent chromium, benzene or hydrogen sulphide leads to claims that only arrive years after the job. If your policy is no longer in force at the moment the claim is brought, the run-off period determines whether there is anything to be had. Arrange that when you cancel or switch, and not only when you stop working. More about the liability chain on sites of this kind is set out under liability in the petrochemical industry.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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What is different on a chemical site
Four subjects that make the difference between welding in a workshop and welding behind a site induction.
Downtime costs more than the repair
A fault in a pipe or valve that leads to unplanned downtime costs many times more than the repair. That claim is pure financial loss and falls outside the AVB. Limit your liability in the order confirmation in advance, therefore. What you do not exclude by contract you carry personally.
Pollution is a policy of its own
Soil and water pollution has a regime of its own with a duty to clean up and administrative enforcement. The AVB covers at most sudden pollution in limited form, often only where it results from covered property damage. Gradually occurring pollution is excluded as standard.
Confined spaces and manhole watch
Work in a tank or vessel calls for a manhole watch, ventilation and a rescue plan. If a colleague is injured because that arrangement was missing, your role as the person carrying out the work is examined. If you work with your own staff, the duty of care under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code applies as well, with the burden of proof on you.
What the client has you sign
Purchasing conditions on large sites contain indemnities, insurance obligations and sometimes a minimum sum insured. Check whether your policy meets them and whether the indemnity required falls within your cover; liability accepted by contract above your liability in law is not insured.
What does your premium depend on?
- Nature of the installations: pressure-retaining and gas-carrying parts weigh more heavily
- Turnover or days worked: the usual basis for a self-employed professional
- Working during turnarounds: short peaks with a great deal of simultaneous work
- Certificates and safety passport: demonstrable qualification limits the risk
- Area of cover: work at sites abroad calls for a separate arrangement
- Run-off period chosen: important with late exposure claims
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Basic | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| A scaffold topples because you lean your welding set against it and one of the client's staff is injured | Yes | Yes |
| A colleague from another company suffers an eye injury because your welding screen was missing | Yes | Yes |
| A fire in an adjacent unit after you carried on working when the gas test had expired | No | No |
| The valve you took away to repair in your own van is damaged | No | Provided that |
| Product escapes into the soil through a cracked weld and part of the site has to be cleaned up | No | Provided that |
| The client recovers three days of lost production from you although nothing is damaged | No | No |
Extended means a policy with care, custody and control and a limited environmental section. A breached work permit undermines cover in any event.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is the loss from an unplanned shutdown insured?
No, not as financial loss in itself. A client who loses production with nothing damaged is claiming pure financial loss and that falls outside public and employers' liability insurance. If the shutdown results from covered property damage, a fire you caused for instance, the injured party's consequential loss can be included.
Does my AVB cover soil pollution?
Only to a limited extent. Most policies cover only sudden and unforeseen pollution connected with covered damage, and exclude gradual pollution. Clean-up costs on the client's site usually fall under environmental damage insurance. Ask which of the two applies to the project and who carries that policy.
I work alone. What do I need liability insurance for?
For the damage you cause to others: injury to third parties' staff, a fire in an adjacent unit, or damaged equipment. Your own injury does not fall under it; disability or personal accident cover is needed for that. In addition, almost all large clients require a valid policy schedule before you are given access to the site.
What if a health complaint only appears in ten years' time?
Then the cover basis of your policy and whether run-off is arranged are decisive. With a policy based on the moment the claim is brought, there must be cover at that moment. Report an event from which you expect a loss straight away, therefore; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code calls for notification as soon as you are reasonably aware of it.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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