Prefabrication · spools supplied · subcontracting
Liability insurance for a pipe fitting company
A pipe fabrication firm runs two risks that come up against different policy provisions: what happens in its own workshop with someone else's material, and what happens to the spools once they have been supplied and installed.
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- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een pijpfittingbedrijf.
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
In the prefabrication workshop there is material that is not yours. Pipe, fittings and valves supplied by the client or being worked on by you are in your care, custody and control. If a spool distorts through heat input, falls off the trestle or a machined batch is damaged during blasting, that exclusion operates, even within your own four walls. Cover for property being worked on with its own limit is the extension that closes the gap here. Also bear in mind the forklift and the overhead crane in the workshop: damage caused by a motor vehicle falls under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) and not under the liability policy.
Outside the workshop it is about what you supply and install. If an installed system fails and thereby damages the client's plant or injures his staff, that is what the public and employers' liability insurance exists for. Replacing the spool itself is not: that is the item you supplied and therefore your own performance. For damage that supplied goods cause at customers there is product liability insurance; how that dovetails with your AVB differs from insurer to insurer and is worth examining where there is a chain of customers.
Three items stay outside the cover in both cases. The inspection and replacement costs where a series of joints has to be redone are pure financial loss. The contractual penalty for a missed handover date is liability you accepted yourself. And damage to your own workshop, machinery and stock is damage to your own property, which belongs on a business contents or buildings policy. If you work mainly on site, also compare liability in installation work.
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 cause more argument in pipework prefabrication and installation than the premium does.
Client material in your workshop
Pipe and valves supplied to you are, in law, someone else's property that you have in your keeping. The care, custody and control exclusion applies in full within your own business. Arrange separate cover for property being worked on and agree with the client who carries the risk during storage, machining and transport to the site.
Subcontracting and hired-in fitters
If you pass work to subcontractors or hire in fitters, you remain liable towards the client. For people working under your supervision the duty of care under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Codealso applies. Require subcontractors to hold their own policy with a sum insured that matches yours, and set out their liability in the contract.
Transport of prefabricated work to the site
Spools are damaged during loading, transport and unloading. Where your own property or the client's property is concerned, that is not a liability loss but a transport matter and belongs on a goods in transit insurance. If the load damages a third party's property on the way, liability cover does come into play.
Long-tail exposure
Grinding dust, welding fumes and, when machining coated material, chromium-6 lead to claims that are reported years later. Whether there is cover depends on the trigger basis of the policy and on the run-off cover when you switch insurer. Record which protective equipment and extraction were in use; that file determines your position in a later claim.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover and payroll: the basis for both the public and the employers' liability sections
- Ratio of prefabrication to site work: installation at third parties weighs more heavily than work in your own workshop
- Application of the systems: commercial building services, food or chemicals give a different profile
- Cover for property being worked on: with its own limit and excess
- Subcontracting and hired-in labour: the scale and the requirements you set for those parties
- Area of cover and exports: supply outside Europe is assessed separately
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A subcontractor's fitter is injured when a trestle in your workshop topples over | Provided that | No |
| During installation on site a spool falls onto the client's underfloor heating | Yes | No |
| An installed pipe system starts to leak and the client's cellar floods | Yes | No |
| Your work planner selects the wrong flange class in the spool list and the whole series has to be bought in again | No | Yes |
| The client reclaims the crane hire he lost because the delivery came too late | No | No |
| Your own trestles and assembly jig are damaged while unloading on site | No | No |
Material you are working on falls outside the cover in both columns. There is a separate section for property being worked on.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A batch of pipe supplied to us is damaged at our premises. Is that insured?
Not under the standard policy. Material you machine or have in your keeping falls under the exclusion for property in your care, even when it is standing in your own workshop. Additional cover for property being worked on picks this up, usually with its own limit. Without that extension the client recovers the amount directly from your business.
A spool we supplied fails at the client's site. Which policy responds?
The damage this causes to others falls under the liability cover for goods supplied. Replacing the spool itself does not: that is your own product. If it works through to your client's customers, product liability comes into play and it matters whether your policy contains that section and up to what amounts.
We also work on systems carrying hazardous media. Does that change acceptance?
Usually it does. Insurers assess the consequential loss from a failing system by reference to the medium and the pressure. Work on installations containing flammable, toxic or pressurised substances is looked at separately and can lead to endorsements. State this when you apply; activities that are not disclosed can reduce the payment under Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Is the business interruption loss at our own workshop after a fire covered as well?
No. Liability insurance pays for other people's losses. If your own production stops because of fire or machinery breakdown, that is a matter for business interruption insurance. If the fire started at a client's premises through your work, his loss does fall within your liability cover, provided you are liable and the hot work conditions have been complied with.
Read more
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