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Work out for yourself what it would cost.
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An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
A damaged cable duct, an overhead line struck or a track not released on time costs little physically. What follows is of a different order: cancelled timetables, replacement transport, compensation to passengers and claims from operators who cannot deploy their rolling stock and staff. That consequential loss bears no relation to the contract price of the work.
In law that is an awkward point. Delay losses suffered by an operator are often pure financial loss: nothing of theirs is damaged and nobody is injured. Many public and employers' liability policies only pay such losses where they arise from covered property damage. So have it established expressly how your policy deals with delay and stoppage losses suffered by third parties.
Also, certification is not a quality mark here but a condition of cover. Working without valid safety certification, outside the established procedures or without release from the infrastructure manager can cost you cover, however carefully the work was otherwise carried out.
What does liability insurance for the railway sector cover?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The essentials
Damage to property and personal injury
Damage to other people's property and injury to other people.
Injury to third parties
Damage to other people's property
Also during visits to clients' sites
For staff
Employers' liability
Accidents at work and occupational illnesses.
Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code
Hired-in staff as well
Not in traffic
Optional
Extensions
What is excluded as standard.
Care, custody and control
Work after completion
Environmental damage
What is covered
Situation
AVB
Another policy
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
An accident at work involving an employee
Yes
No
Injury to staff in traffic
No
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
Sometimes
Pure financial loss caused by a professional error
No
Yes
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
The time window of the possession
Work on the track takes place in a tightly defined window. If you overrun, the track still has to be released or train services are cancelled. The penalties and claims that follow are contractual in nature and usually fall outside liability cover. So plan with a margin, record delays caused by third parties in writing at once and report deviations at the moment they arise.
Damage to cables and pipes while digging
Signalling, data and power cables lie close together alongside the track. A single instance of damage can take out a signalling section. Request the location data before work starts, have trial trenches dug where the drawing is unclear, and keep the excavation notification, the drawings and the release. A contractor who dug without current location data has virtually no defence when a claim comes.
Subcontractors work under your certification
If you engage a specialist party for welding, surveying or transport, you remain answerable to the infrastructure manager. Article 6:171 of the Dutch Civil Code makes the party engaging them liable for mistakes by non-subordinates it has engaged. Check the certification of the company and of the individuals before every deployment, record the supervision in the work plan and ask for the insurance certificate stating the sum insured.
Where the policy stops
Contractual penalties and deductions set out in the specification are not liability in law and stay outside the cover. Damage to the work you carry out yourself belongs with a construction policy and not here. Working without release or outside the safety procedures touches the exclusion for intent and wilful recklessness in Article 7:952 DCC. Your own standing costs for equipment are not paid either.
Care, custody and control is excluded as standard
Damage to property that you have in your care: borrowed, hired, being worked on or held in safekeeping: is not covered by the standard cover. For professions where this is the core of the work, a separate care, custody and control module with its own limit is essential.
Your AVB excludes damage caused with or by motor vehicles. It is precisely there that the Hoge Raad (the Dutch Supreme Court) recognised a separate liability based on the duty to act as a good employer: an employer must arrange proper insurance for employees who take part in traffic for work. A WEGAS insurance policy fills that gap.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Only where your policy expressly provides for it. Delay losses are often pure financial loss for the operator affected: nothing of theirs is damaged. As standard, liability policies only pay consequential loss arising from covered property damage. Have this point addressed separately in every quotation. It determines whether the policy means anything in this sector.
What happens if a certificate has expired?
Then you are working outside the conditions of cover and the insurer can reject a claim, even if the incident had nothing to do with that certificate. Keep a register of validity for each person and each company certification, and block deployment as soon as a date passes. Check that validity for hired-in staff and subcontractors too.
We overran the time window. Does the policy pay the penalty?
Usually not. A penalty or deduction under the contract is an agreement between you and the client and not liability in law towards a third party. Liability insurance therefore excludes it. Damage you caused to third parties while overrunning can be covered. Assess which penalty clauses you accept when you take on the work.
My employee is injured beside the track. What applies then?
Article 7:658 DCC imposes a heavy duty of care on you as an employer, and you have to show that you complied with it. In this environment that means demonstrable safety instruction, valid worksite protection, supervision and certified staff. If your employee is hit in traffic to or from the location, good employership under Article 7:611 DCC also comes into play.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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