Liability insurance

Every business activity involves the risk of unintentionally causing damage to others in the course of work. If someone’s property or health is harmed, the company is responsible for the resulting damage and is obliged to remedy the consequences. 

Insurance helps you cope with various unforeseen situations, for example:

• When a burst water pipe in an office building damages tenants’ furniture and equipment. 
• When an employee accidentally damages a client’s property while providing a service.
• When a block of ice falling from a building’s roof damages a car parked underneath.

Activity liability insurance is especially important for property owners and holders, but it is also necessary in many other fields of everyday business activity. It is needed, for example, by:

• Transport and logistics service providers
• Cafés, restaurants, hotels, and accommodation establishments 
• Car dealerships and repair shops
• Cleaning service providers
• Equipment and system maintenance service providers
• Manufacturing companies
• Beauty service providers
• Landscape maintenance workers
• Sales representatives

Good to know

Liability insurance also covers indemnification of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses. We reimburse reasonable and pre-approved expenses of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses if they are necessary to determine the company’s liability. These expenses are covered even if the claim turns out to be unfounded.

Examples of how liability insurance has helped our clients: 

• A water accident occurred on the company’s premises, flooding the property of a business located on the floor below.
  Damage amount: €14,000 

• A fire broke out in a store due to a failure of electrical equipment and spread to other tenants’ premises, causing damage to both interior finishing and goods.
  Damage amount: €150,000 

• A cleaning service provider accidentally spilled oven cleaner on the floor, damaging the floor covering.
  Damage amount: €5,000 

• A moving service company tried to lift large furniture onto a balcony using ropes. During the process, the building’s façade was damaged. The apartment association submitted a claim for façade repairs.
  Damage amount: €2,000
• Due to heavy rainfall, the building’s water pumps could not handle the accumulated water, and the water level in the rooms on the ground floor rose to 20 cm. The water caused extensive damage to the tenant’s electronic equipment.
  Damage amount: over €90,000

Do you have a production company or provide services? If so, you should consider liability insurance if your product or service causes damage to someone. Liability insurance helps cover the costs that may arise if someone’s property or health is damaged as a result of using your product or service.

Who might need product liability insurance?

• Liability arising from a product – a manufacturer, importer, distributor in retail or wholesale trade, company supplying semi-finished products to another manufacturer
• Liability arising from a delivered service – a building delivered by a contractor, a repaired car delivered by a car mechanic, food served in a restaurant, etc.

What does product liability insurance cover? 

The insurance covers, for example, damages caused by defective household appliances, low-quality building materials, as well as food products and consumer goods. Examples: 

• A product from a fish processing company is found to contain a dangerous bacterium that causes health damage when consumed.
• Manufactured water pipes are defective. After installation, the pipes start bursting and cause leaks.
• After installation, a new water heater begins to leak because the piping was not properly attached.

Did you know ... 

• that product liability insurance also covers indemnification of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses? We reimburse reasonable and pre-approved expenses of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses if they are necessary to determine the company’s liability. These expenses are covered even if the claim turns out to be unfounded.
• You can add a coverage to your product liability insurance that covers the costs associated with the removal of products from the market. The additional cost coverage for product recalls includes expenses such as collection, transportation, and disposal of the product when it must be recalled from the market due to a dangerous defect.

Examples of how product liability insurance has helped our clients:

• The water pipe fittings produced by a company were not watertight, causing flooding in the buyer’s warehouse.
  Damage amount: €12,000

• A food industry company discovered a health-threatening bacterium in one of its products, and the product was immediately removed from circulation. The insurance compensated for the costs of collecting and disposing of the product.
  Damage amount: €30,000

• A company’s seed mix proved to be microbiologically unstable and spoiled the product in which another manufacturer used the mix. The manufacturer was forced to dispose of the finished products. 
  Damage amount: €10,000 

• A company supplied a client with meat pie filling. The client discovered the spoilage of the filling only after it had already been partially used in pies. The insurance covered the cost of raw materials and the disposal of the finished products.
  Damage amount: €13,000 

• Plumbing work was carried out. Three months after completion, a joint failed and caused extensive water damage to several apartments in a new residential building.
  Damage amount: €252,000
• During a tire change, one wheel was not fastened securely enough and rolled off the vehicle after a few kilometres.
  Damage amount: €5,000

Events vary widely – from small fairs and exhibitions to sports competitions and large festivals. Each comes with its own characteristics and risks.

As an event organiser, you know that a successful event requires cooperation with various partners, such as venue owners, companies providing sound and lighting equipment, catering, etc. Therefore, it is important to consider an insurance solution that benefits all parties involved from the very beginning.

Event organiser’s liability insurance covers activities related to event preparation (e.g., stage assembly), the event itself, and post-event activities (e.g., stage dismantling, cleaning). It helps you cope with unexpected costs if someone’s property or health is damaged during the event organised by you.

Examples of how event organiser’s liability insurance has helped our clients: 

• During an exhibition, a light fixture broke, causing burn holes in the decorative fabric used for the display.
  Damage amount: €900

• During film shooting, a camera operator tripped over a chocolate fountain, staining a carpet. Cleaning was unsuccessful, and the carpet had to be replaced.
  Damage amount: €1,800 
• During food preparation, oil splashed onto the textile wall of a tent, leaving a stain that could not be removed.
  Damage amount: €1,200 

If an employee is injured or dies as a result of a workplace accident, the employer must cover the costs related to the accident. Did you know that in the past five years, more than 3,300 workplace accidents have been registered annually with the Labour Inspectorate? The largest number of accidents occur in the trade, metal and wood and construction sectors. 
In 2024, a total of 3,384 workplace accidents were registered, 14 of which were fatal. In addition, nearly 460 minor workplace accidents occurred where employees did not require a sick leave.

Important! 

An accident can happen to any employee in any field – no one is completely protected. 
That is why companies should consider employer’s liability insurance, which provides security for both the employer and the employee. 

Employer’s liability insurance provides: 

• Financial protection and stability for the company in the event of unexpected claims.

• Indemnification and financial support for the employee if a workplace accident causes long-term or permanent health damage.

• Financial support for the family if the employee loses their life due to a workplace accident. 

What does employer’s liability insurance cover?

The insurance indemnifies costs related to health damage suffered by an employee as a result of an accident that occurred while performing work duties. It covers: 

• Reasonable and necessary medical and care expenses, including rehabilitation costs.
• Costs of aids necessary for daily living.
• Loss of income due to incapacity for work.
• Loss or reduction of support for dependants.
• Reasonable and necessary funeral costs.
• Costs arising from the damage to the employee’s personal belongings.

Good to know 

• Employer’s liability insurance can be extended with additional coverage for occupational disease. With this cover, we indemnify expenses related to an occupational illness diagnosed during the insurance period.
• Employer’s liability insurance also covers indemnification of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses. We reimburse reasonable and pre-approved expenses of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses if they are necessary to determine the company’s liability. These expenses are covered even if the claim turns out to be unfounded.

Examples of how employer’s liability insurance has helped our clients: 

• A sawmill worker suffered a serious hand injury when a saw blade unexpectedly pulled his hand into the saw. The accident occurred because the saw lacked the required safety devices, and the working methods did not meet safety standards.
  We compensated the employee’s medical and rehabilitation costs in the amount of €5,000.
• A serious workplace accident occurred at a construction company when an employee fell from a height of about six meters from a roof. The employee was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, but no safety harness. As a result of the accident, the man suffered a severe spinal injury and was paralysed from the waist down.
  We indemnified the employee’s medical and rehabilitation expenses, the cost of assistive equipment (wheelchair, special bed, lifting mechanisms), loss of income, and legal expenses in excess of €100,000.

Who needs professional liability insurance? 

Professional liability insurance is necessary in professions where a qualification certificate or operating license is often required. In some fields, this insurance is mandatory, but it is also reasonable to take it out even when not required by law. Even an experienced professional cannot rule out the possibility of human error.

Mandatory professional liability insurance

In certain professions, mandatory professional liability insurance is required by law. This includes, for example:

• auditors
• notaries
• bailiffs

Voluntary professional liability insurance

Although not required, it is also reasonable in many other professions to take out professional liability insurance. For instance, it should be considered by: 

• accountants
• translators
• architects, engineers
• owner’s supervision specialists

Good to know

Professional liability insurance also covers indemnification of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses. We reimburse reasonable and pre-approved expenses of expert opinions, legal, and court expenses if they are necessary to determine the company’s liability. These expenses are covered even if the claim turns out to be unfounded. 

Examples of how professional liability insurance has helped our clients:

• A company provided translation services and made a mistake while translating texts intended for product packaging. The mistake was discovered only after the packaging had already been printed. We indemnified the cost of printing the product packaging.
  Damage amount: €8,400  

• A company provided accounting services and made a mistake in a client’s tax declaration. The mistake was discovered and corrected only several years later, as a result of which the tax authority imposed an interest claim on the client. We indemnified the resulting damage.
  Damage amount: €5,000 

• During the calculation of ceiling beams in a building’s parking floor, a mistake was made that was discovered only after the ceiling panels had been installed. Since the beams could no longer be replaced, they had to be reinforced to ensure the building’s stability. We indemnified the additional costs incurred.
  Damage amount: €56,000
• A company prepared an interior architecture project for a school but made a mistake in specifying the width of the wardrobe cabinets in the specifications used for ordering the cabinets from the manufacturer. The finished cabinets turned out to be 10 cm too wide and did not fit in all rooms. We indemnified the costs of rearranging the cabinets and replacing those with narrower ones.
  Damage amount: €9,500