Public liability insurance for refrigeration engineering companies

A leaking pipe that floods a customer's floor, a soldering error that causes a fire, a technician who gets refrigerant in their face while draining it off — these are risks that come with the trade. A public liability insurance (AVB) is the basic cover for that, but the policy conditions contain exactly the exclusions that are most relevant for an installation company. This article sets out what an AVB covers, where the gaps are, and when you need an insurance advisor instead of an assumption.

What an AVB covers for a refrigeration engineering company

An AVB covers your company's liability for damage that you cause to people or to the property of others during your work (Installatie.nl (opent in nieuw tabblad); Techniek Nederland Verzekeringen (opent in nieuw tabblad)). Concretely for refrigeration engineering:

• Water damage from an installation error. A badly soldered coupling or a leaking pipe that damages the customer's floor, ceiling or inventory falls under property damage to third parties.
• Fire from an installation error. A short circuit or overheating that causes a fire at the customer's premises during or after installation work falls in principle under the same cover — provided the damage is caused to someone other than yourself.
• Injury from refrigerant leakage. Injury to a customer, bystander or third party from contact with or inhalation of released refrigerant falls under personal injury to third parties.
• Environmental damage from a sudden incident. Some AVB policies cover environmental damage that arises suddenly and unexpectedly during your work, for example an acute refrigerant release due to a technical defect. Gradual environmental damage — a pipe that leaks slowly for years — generally falls outside that and requires a separate environmental liability insurance (source: Techniek Nederland Verzekeringen (opent in nieuw tabblad)).

Important: an AVB covers damage that you cause to others. Damage to your own material, tools or to the work itself (for example an installation you have to redo because the first attempt failed) is for your own account.

Is an AVB legally required?

No. A public liability insurance is not legally required in the Netherlands for businesses (Univé (opent in nieuw tabblad); Perree & Partners (opent in nieuw tabblad)). In practice, clients, main contractors or trade associations often demand it before signing a contract — just as with BRL 100, where an increasing number of clients set the certificate as a hard requirement in tenders.

The first gap: the care, custody and control clause

The biggest substantive risk for a refrigeration engineering company lies in the care, custody and control clause. Standard AVB policies exclude damage to items that you have 'in your care, custody and control' — so items belonging to the customer that you are working on, handling or have in your charge at that moment (Centraal Beheer (opent in nieuw tabblad); Bavspecialist.nl (opent in nieuw tabblad)).

For a technician who is literally working on the customer's installation — the compressor you are tinkering with at that moment, the pipework you have open — that is precisely the risk that occurs most often. Without care, custody and control cover (or with strongly limited cover for it), damage that occurs to the object you are working on at that moment can fall outside the standard cover (Honig & Honig (opent in nieuw tabblad)).

The practical lesson: when taking out or extending your AVB, explicitly ask about the care, custody and control clause and the insured amount for it, and check whether that amount matches the value of the installations you typically work on (a commercial refrigeration installation at a supermarket represents a different scale of damage than a split unit at a private home).

The second gap: professional liability (BAV)

An AVB covers physical damage and injury — not pure financial loss arising from an error in advice, design or calculation. If, as an installer, you also give advice on sizing, energy consumption or the choice of refrigerant, and that advice later turns out to be incorrect with financial consequences for the customer, that falls outside the AVB and within the territory of a professional liability insurance (BAV) (Techniek Nederland Verzekeringen — BAV (opent in nieuw tabblad); Everion (opent in nieuw tabblad)).

Examples that fall under BAV rather than AVB:

• An incorrectly sized installation that leads to extra energy costs or an expensive correction for the customer.
• Incorrect advice about the refrigerant to be used or the required capacity, resulting in financial loss — without any physical damage or injury.

Companies that purely install and maintain without an advisory role need a BAV less often; companies that also carry out design or advisory projects (for example around heat pumps and energy saving) do run that risk and would do well to discuss this explicitly with an advisor.

Premium: no figure we cannot substantiate

The premium for an AVB depends on too many factors to meaningfully state an amount here — turnover, number of employees, claims history, the insured amount for care, custody and control, and the insurer itself all play a role. Every source we consulted confirms that the premium varies strongly per company profile; none of these sources states a concrete indicative amount that we can adopt here. Request a quote from an insurance advisor who knows the installation industry, and present your company profile (turnover, number of technicians, type of installations, any advisory services) so that the care, custody and control question and the BAV question are addressed in one go.

What to do as a refrigeration engineering company

• Explicitly ask about the care, custody and control clause for your current or new AVB, and have the insured amount match the installations you work on.
• Determine whether you need a BAV based on whether you provide advisory services alongside installation and maintenance.
• Record damage moments. A watertight work order file with time, location, actions performed and — where relevant — photos, is exactly what an insurer requests when a claim is reported.
• Get advice annually. A company that grows (more turnover, larger installations, added advisory services) can grow out of its cover without anyone noticing.

Further reading

• What needs to be on a work order?
• Maintenance contract for a refrigeration installation: free template
• Is a digital work order legally valid?

Disclaimer: this article is general information, not insurance advice. Cover, exclusions and clauses differ per policy and insurer. Ask an insurance advisor who knows the installation industry to assess your specific situation (care, custody and control, professional liability, environmental cover) via /contact.