RI&E · injury as a consequence · supervision
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a safety consultancy
Anyone who advises on safety has an awkward problem: if the advice fails, the loss is usually injury: and injury is exactly what standard professional indemnity insurance leaves out.
- 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 veiligheidsadviesbureau.
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
A safety consultancy prepares and reviews risk assessments, draws up action plans, writes health and safety plans, assesses machine safety, prepares explosion safety documents and trains staff. The client uses that to meet its own obligations: Article 5 of the Dutch Working Conditions Act requires every employer to hold a current RI&E (the statutory risk assessment) with an action plan, and Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code makes the employer liable for its staff's losses if it fails in its duty of care.
That is exactly where your cover question lies. If an accident happens, the employer is liable towards its employee. It then looks to recover from you, on the basis that you failed to identify the hazard. The loss it passes on consists of personal injury, and ordinary professional indemnity insurance is limited to pure financial loss. So ask expressly for a policy that also insures injury and property damage arising from a professional error, or for a combination with a public and employers' liability insurance with the same insurer. Without that fit, a gap opens up between two policies that each point to the other.
Third, set out your business activity precisely. Reviewing as a certified core expert, advising on CE marking of machinery, assessing exposure to hazardous substances and giving training are, in an insurer's eyes, different activities. For the self-employed version of this profession, see professional indemnity for safety experts the relevant page.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four points that weigh more heavily in safety advice than the sum insured does.
Injury is the heart of your risk
In almost every other advisory profession the claim is about money. In yours it is about a fall from height, entrapment or exposure. So check literally in the conditions whether injury arising from a mistake in the advice is co-insured and up to what amount. If it says only 'financial loss not preceded by property damage or injury', the policy leaves out precisely your main risk.
An RI&E is a snapshot
You assess a situation on one day, with the installations and working methods as they are on that day. If the work changes afterwards, the risk changes with it. Record which sites, departments and processes were assessed and which were not, and state that the employer is obliged to keep the assessment up to date. A report without that scoping is read later as a judgment on everything.
Fines from the regulator cannot be insured
After a serious accident the Dutch Labour Inspectorate imposes an administrative fine on the employer. Such a fine is a sanction and not compensation; liability policies therefore exclude fines and penalty payments, even where the client tries to pass it on to you. For the costs of legal defence in enforcement or criminal proceedings, a business legal expenses insurance the appropriate arrangement.
Do not promise safety, promise care
A sentence such as 'once this is implemented you will comply with the law' turns your obligation to use best efforts into a obligation to achieve a specific result, and liability arising from guarantees is excluded. Also outside the cover are redoing your own assessment and repaying fees, and loss caused by intent or wilful recklessness, for which Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code provides the basis.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: split between advice, review and training
- Sectors of your clients: construction, industry and process installations weigh more heavily
- Number of advisers and their registration: trained at intermediate or higher safety expert level
- Advice on machinery and installations: touches on product liability
- Injury arising from advice errors included: an extension that affects the premium
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
| An employer recovers the continued pay of an absent employee on the basis of your assessment | No | Yes |
| Your client claims the cost of a production stoppage after the inspectorate halted the work | No | Yes |
| An engineer falls from a roof at a site you assessed without identifying the risk of falling | No | Provided that |
| A machine you assessed for conformity turns out to have an unguarded cutting part and an operator is injured | No | Provided that |
| During an evacuation exercise your trainer damages the client's fire alarm system | Yes | No |
| A client terminates the contract after a disappointing external audit | No | No |
In this profession the question is not whether you are insured, but whether injury arising from your advice is included on the policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
There has been an accident at a client for whom we prepared the RI&E. What do we do first?
Report it to your insurer at once, even without a formal claim against you. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code obliges you to inform the insurer as soon as you are reasonably aware of a possible claim, and under a claims-made policy the notification fixes the policy year. Then secure your file: the description of the assignment, the versions of the report, the action plan and the correspondence about advice that was not followed.
Can an injured employee bring a claim against us directly?
He can try, on the basis of tort under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, but his first route runs through his employer, which has a far-reaching duty of care under Article 7:658 DCC. When it comes to it the claim therefore often reaches you at second hand, as a recovery claim by the employer or its insurer. The question is then whether your advice met what could be expected of a fellow professional.
We review RI&Es as a certified core expert. Is that automatically covered?
Not automatically. Reviewing is a different activity from preparing the assessment and must be stated as such in your capacity. When reviewing you assess someone else's work, which limits your responsibility to what you could reasonably have noticed. Record the scope of the review, including whether you visited the workplaces yourself or only assessed documents.
We advise on machine safety and CE marking. Where is the line?
At the question of who counts as the manufacturer. If you only advise, the manufacturer remains responsible for the technical file and the declaration of conformity. If you draw up documentation or help build an assembly, product liability under Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code comes into play, with its own regime and its own cover. Have your role recorded for each assignment.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering veiligheidskundige zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering ai adviesbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering werktuigbouwkundig bureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering cybersecurity bedrijf
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering compliance adviesbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering werktuigbouwkundige zzp
Similar pages
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed health and safety expert
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an AI consultancy
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed mechanical engineer
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a mechanical engineering consultancy
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a cyber security company
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for career coaching
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a compliance consultancy
- Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an HR consultancy