Screening · programmes · series claims
Professional indemnity – Nutrition advice practice
A nutrition advice practice works without a protected title and without a disciplinary tribunal, but with clients who often do have a condition or take medication. That is where the risk lies.
- 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: Beroepsaansprakelijkheid – Voedingsadvies Praktijk.
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
Nutrition coaches and weight consultants have no legally protected title and do not fall under the Wet BIG. Your standard lies in Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code and in the care of a good contractor under Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code: what should a reasonably competent adviser in your position have noticed and referred on? The recurring allegation is therefore not that the plan was wrong, but that not enough was asked of someone with diabetes, impaired kidney function, an eating disorder, a pregnancy or medication that interacts with food.
In a practice with several coaches a second risk arises that self-employed practitioners do not face: multiplication. A mistake in a standard plan, a group programme or an online challenge affects every participant at once. So look at the series claims arrangement in the conditions. It determines whether claims arising from the same cause count as one claim, with one sum insured and one excess, or whether they are counted separately.
Finally, watch what you publish. European rules on nutrition and health claims apply to health claims on websites, leaflets and programmes, supervised by the NVWA (the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority). Fines arising from those rules are not insurable. If you also sell products, you are a supplier and product liability under Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies, which falls outside this policy. The outline of the product is set out on the hub page.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What goes wrong here
Four subjects that make the difference for an advice practice without BIG registration.
Screening and referral
Work with a fixed intake covering conditions, medication, pregnancy and any history of eating problems, and record the answers. Agree a firm referral threshold above which you do not provide guidance yourself. A claim is almost always about whether you should have spotted a warning sign, not about the content of the dietary advice itself.
Group programmes and standard plans
A plan you issue a hundred times is the same risk a hundred times over. Have programmes reviewed on their content, keep version control and give them a clear definition of the target group. Then check in the policy how claims from one cause are counted; that determines whether your sum insured is adequate.
Coaches, franchisees and guest teachers
For coaches you employ, you are liable under Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code. If you work with franchisees or licensees of your method, record who enters into the client agreement and who is insured. If you use someone else's method yourself, you remain responsible to your client for the way it is applied.
What the policy does not cover
Outside the cover are: assurances about weight loss or results; fines from the NVWA or the ACM (the Dutch competition and consumer authority) over health claims and advertising; loss caused by products you supply, such as shakes and supplements; intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code); and injury or property damage in the practice premises, which belongs on the public and employers' liability insurance belongs.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover of the practice: the basis for the premium and the sum insured
- Number of coaches and consultants: including self-employed contractors working under your name
- Individually or in groups: programmes affect more people at once
- Target groups: clients with a medical history weigh more heavily
- Sale of products: determines whether product liability cover belongs alongside it
- Series claims arrangement: determines how claims from one cause are counted
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A client with impaired kidney function is left with lasting complaints after a high-protein plan from your practice | No | Provided that |
| A client attends for months while an underlying eating disorder goes untreated | No | Provided that |
| A coach from your practice drops a corporate client's laptop during a workshop on site | Yes | No |
| A GP brings a claim against you because his patient was allowed to continue the programme against his advice | No | Provided that |
| An employer demands the programme fee back because the promised results did not materialise | No | No |
| The files with your participants' health data are exposed in a data breach | No | No |
Three entries reading 'Provided that' in this column mean one thing: have it confirmed before you sign that injury to persons is included.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
We have no protected title. Can claims still be brought against us?
Certainly. Liability does not attach to a title but to the question of whether you acted carefully towards your client. The absence of a disciplinary tribunal only means that the complaint takes the civil route straight away. Insurers therefore assess practices of this kind mainly on the intake procedure and on the client groups you accept.
A participant in our online programme has become ill.
That can be a covered claim if the programme contained a mistake or was unsuitable for this participant. Keep the intake data, the version of the programme and the correspondence. If the problem lies in the version itself, bear in mind that more participants may come forward and that the series claim provision determines whether that falls under one sum insured.
A client says our advice caused his blood sugar to go out of control.
Then this is damage to health and not simply wasted money. First check whether your policy covers injury to persons arising from your professional work; many standard forms do not. On the substance, it turns on whether you knew about the medication and whether you consulted the treating practitioner. Report the claim at once and do not enter into a discussion about the cause yourself.
We work with someone else's licensed method. Who is liable?
Towards the client, you are, because you enter into the agreement and apply the method. Whether you can claim against the licensor depends on your contract and on whether the mistake lies in the method itself. Record any changes you make yourself, because as soon as you depart from the method, recovery from the licensor becomes considerably harder.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering life coach zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering life coaching praktijk
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering dietist zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering wondzorg
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering coach zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering coachingbureau
Similar pages
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a dietitian
- Professional indemnity – Wound care
- Professional indemnity – Life coach
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a life coaching practice
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a speech therapy practice
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a coaching firm
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a dietetics practice
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a dental hygiene practice