Refraction · contact lenses ·. The customer's frame
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an optician
An optician measures, advises and supplies. It is that combination that means a complaint never fits on one policy: the measurement is professional practice, the lens supplied is a product and the customer's frame is on your workbench.
- 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: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een opticien.
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
The complaints that reach an optician's shop are rarely spectacular, but they run along three different legal tracks. A prescription determined incorrectly or a cylinder axis a few degrees out gives headaches, double vision or unsteadiness on the feet. With an older customer that sometimes ends in a fall. That is injury arising from your professional act and for it the insurer assesses whether you worked in line with the usual measurement protocols, whether the history taken was correct and whether you referred the customer on when the measured values gave reason to.
The second track is money without injury: a customer who claims back the whole pair of glasses, the lenses and the travelling time because the prescription had to be adjusted three times. That is pure financial loss and that is exactly what professional indemnity insurance exists for. Do note that virtually every policy excludes redoing your own work: grinding new lenses at your own expense is a business risk, not an insured loss. The third track is product liability under Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code for a lens or frame you supply but do not make yourself. That belongs on a public and employers' liability insurance with product cover.
Typical of this trade is the customer's frame. When adjusting, soldering or fitting new lenses you have someone else's property in your keeping, and then the care, custody and control exclusion applies. If a collector's frame breaks while you press the lenses in, you face the replacement yourself without separate care, custody and control cover. The general explanation of the product is on the professional liability hub page.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
Where an optician's shop comes unstuck
Four situations that lead to a notice of liability in this trade more often than a mistake in the administration.
Screening and the moment of referral
An optician does not make a diagnosis, but does see signs: a prescription changing quickly, complaints of flashes of light, an abnormal field of vision. If a retinal detachment or glaucoma is only discovered months later, the question is whether you sent the customer to the GP or an optometrist in time. Record the referral advice in the customer file; without a note it is your word against the customer's.
Contact lenses are a different risk from glasses
Fitting contact lenses and follow-up checks involve direct contact with the cornea. A lens that fits too tightly, a missed contraindication or inadequate hygiene instructions can lead to keratitis or permanent damage to the cornea. Some insurers rate contact lens care separately or exclude it if you do not report it. State when you apply whether you also provide overnight lenses or orthokeratology.
Work on someone else's frame
Repair, adjustment and transferring lenses bring the care, custody and control exclusion into play: damage to property you have in your keeping but do not own is excluded as standard. Ask for a care, custody and control clause for customers' frames and set out in your terms how you deal with fragile or antique frames. Frames lost after a repair also fall under this exclusion.
What you do not get paid for
The following, among others, are outside the cover: warranty and re-supply of your own product, fines and penalty payments, loss caused by intent or wilful recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, and liability you accept by contract yourself by promising a result in advertising or a quotation. A supplier's product recall is not an insured loss on your policy either.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover of the shop: the usual basis for the rate
- Share of contact lens care: fitting and follow-up weigh more heavily than selling glasses
- In-house glazing or work outsourced: working lenses yourself changes the loss profile
- Number of staff qualified to measure: determines how many pairs of hands carry out measurements
- Care, custody and control for customers' frames included: a separate section with its own limit
- Retroactive and run-off periods required: important when switching insurers or selling the business
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What falls under which policy
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A cylinder axis a few degrees out, leaving an older customer dizzy so that she falls | No | Yes |
| The cost of an ophthalmologist claimed by a customer after persistent headaches caused by an incorrect measurement | No | Yes |
| A child knocks over a display stand and cuts himself in your shop | Yes | No |
| Skin complaints caused by nickel in a frame you bought in but did not make yourself | Provided that | No |
| The cost of defending proceedings about a missed referral | No | Yes |
| A customer who drops his newly collected glasses in the shop and demands a replacement | No | No |
The AVB covers injury and damage to property in the shop and, with product cover, the goods supplied as well. The BAV covers the consequences of your measurements and advice.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A customer says the new glasses give him headaches. Is that a claim?
Only once there is a loss going beyond dissatisfaction. Complaints resolved with a re-measurement and new lenses stay at your own expense, because putting your own performance right is excluded. If injury is alleged, for instance a fall caused by disturbed depth perception, report it to your insurer; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to report as soon as you are aware of the claim.
Do I need public and employers' liability insurance as well as this policy?
For a shop, yes. A customer who trips over a cable, a mirror that falls off the wall or damage to the rented premises belongs on business liability insurance, together with the product liability for what you resell. The professional cover is about your measurements and advice. See the page on liability insurance for a shop.
Am I liable if the lens supplier makes a mistake?
The customer claims against you in the first instance, because you concluded the contract with him. You can then pursue the supplier under the contract of sale or on product liability under Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code. So keep order confirmations and specifications for each order. Without those documents, recovery from the supplier is difficult.
What happens to customer data from my till system in a hack?
That is not a professional error but a data breach. Investigation, recovery, notifying the data subjects and liability towards those customers belong on a cyber insurance. An administrative fine from the regulator is not insured on any liability policy, because it is a penalty and not compensation.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
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- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering poh zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering pedagogische praktijk
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering optometrist zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering financieel adviseur zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering osteopaat zzp
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