Protect your staff by taking out industrial accident insurance with KBC Brussels
- Insure your staff at work, when they’re on the road and if they’re working from home
- Get four additional types of cover on top of what is legally required
- Personalise your policy with add-on cover (such as for higher wages)
- Avoid costs, fines and other penalties
Why take out industrial accident insurance?
An accident at work can happen at any time. That’s why you, as a business owner and employer, are legally obliged to take out industrial accident insurance.
However, KBC Commercial Employee Insurance offers a higher level of cover than required by law. Included in your policy are four supplementary types of cover that offer greater protection for your staff, without requiring you to pay an additional premium.
You can also include add-ons like Excess Wages cover to insure the full wages of your employee, even if they exceed the wage ceiling (the figure in 2022 was 48 084.06 euros).
What is industrial accident insurance?
Industrial accident insurance is a compulsory insurance policy you, as an employer, are required to take out for anyone with whom you sign an employment contract, even if you’ve only hired them for a day. It leaves your employees safe in the knowledge that they’re properly insured should they have an accident at work.
What is covered under compulsory industrial accident insurance?
Industrial accident insurance provides certain types of compulsory cover.
Covered
- Compensation if an employee is temporarily or permanently incapacitated for work
- Third-party assistance required after serious permanent injury
- Compensation in the event of an employee’s death: funeral expenses, life-long annuity for the spouse and annuity for the children (for as long as they’re entitled to child allowance)
- The costs of medical care following an industrial accident
Not covered
- Material damage, such as damaged clothing
- Any non-pecuniary loss caused by the accident
Good to know: compensation is calculated based on capped wages (the figure in 2022 was 48 084.06 euros). If your employees earn more than the capped amount, you should take out supplementary Excess Wages cover.
Why take out industrial accident insurance with KBC Brussels?
Our insurance for accidents at work provides your staff with all the cover required by law plus four types of add-on cover, without any additional premium being charged. That means they’re also insured for work-related accidents not covered by compulsory insurance.
The add-on cover applies to the following situations:
- Teleworking: cover for accidents occurring while you’re working from home (like falling down stairs)
- Events: provided the employer is one of the event organisers
- Work-related travel: includes foreign trips and domestic business travel involving one or more overnight stays
- Death: if one of your staff dies as a result of an accident at work, we’ll also compensate the surviving partner (regardless of whether they were officially or unofficially cohabiting)
What add-ons can you attach to your compulsory insurance?
With good employees being hard to find and the war for talent raging as never before, it is essential that you give your staff plenty of reasons to remain with your company. A good way to start is by offering five attractive add-ons under the industrial accident insurance policy.
Compensation paid under the Workers' Compensation Act is based on the statutory wage ceiling. For work-related accidents, this figure was 48 084.06 euros in 2022.
If your employees earn more than the capped amount, you can include that higher amount in the supplementary Excess Wages cover. A maximum compensation limit still applies, but it is 11 times higher (48 084.06 euros x 11) than without this cover.
Covered
We insure the portion above the wage ceiling in the same way as the statutory compensation.
Not covered
- Non-pecuniary loss and material damage
- Suicide and the consequences of attempted suicide
- Accidents caused intentionally or resulting from gross negligence (such as due to alcohol intoxication)
Benefits for employers
More to bargain with when it comes to retaining highly qualified staff.
ADD-ON 2: Wages recovery following a work-related accident
When an employee has an accident at work, their employer is obliged to pay them wages for their first month of being unable to work. Only some of the money you have to pay will be reimbursed under your industrial accident insurance.
If you want to be reimbursed for the full amount, that’s possible when you take out cover called Wages recovery following an accident at work. In that case, the part of the guaranteed wage you pay out of your own pocket during that first month is also reimbursed to you.
What is covered?
- The difference between the gross wage that you have to pay as employer for the first month and the compensation you receive from your work accident insurer
- The employer social security contributions that you pay for the insured guaranteed wage period
ADD-ON 3: Personal assistance for work-related travel
If one of your employees becomes ill or has an accident while travelling for work, you can make sure they are properly insured by taking out the supplementary Personal assistance cover for work-related travel. That provides cover both at home and abroad.
Covered
Assistance in Belgium
- Transportation of sick or injured persons
- Search and rescue costs
Assistance abroad
- Medical expenses, and search and rescue costs
- Repatriation for medical reasons
- Luggage transport
- Travel and accommodation expenses for family members in case of hospitalisation
- Early return home in certain crisis situations at home
- Emergency assistance providing things like medicine, glasses or a suitcase of clothes
Not covered
- Work-related travel that already started before this cover was taken out
- Assistance not requested at the time of the actual event
- Assistance not provided or approved by KBC
Good to know
- Work-related travel may not comprise more than three consecutive nights away from home
- This insurance only applies in Belgium (at least one overnight stay) or within the geographical area of Europe
ADD-ON 4: Supplementary cover for medical and funeral expenses
Covered
- Medical expenses not covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act (up to 5 000 euros)
- Additional funeral expenses (up to 5 000 euros)
Not covered
- Accidents in your employee’s private life that occur during a period of absence for which the policyholder does not pay wages (except in the case of absence due to illness, maternity leave or an accident)
- Accidents caused intentionally or resulting from gross negligence
ADD-ON 5: Accidents occurring in your employee’s private life
The supplementary cover for Personal accident insurance based on the Workers’ Compensation Act also protects your employees if they are involved in an accident outside the workplace.
Covered
- Compensation in the event of temporary or permanent work disability
- Funeral expenses and compensation for the deceased’s loved ones
- Medical expenses following an accident
Not covered
- Accidents in your employee’s private life that occur during a period of absence for which the policyholder does not pay wages (except in the case of absence due to illness, maternity leave or an accident)
- Accidents subject to the Belgian Workers’ Compensation Act
Good to know
- Financial contributions made by the health insurance fund are deducted from the amount paid
- In the event of temporary work disability, no compensation is paid between the day of the accident and the following 30 days
- A deductible of 50 euros applies when medical expenses are incurred
Do you work with trainees or assistants who do not have an employment contract?
If people are working for you in a paid or unpaid capacity as part of their training, you must take out industrial accident insurance to cover them.
For instance:
- Individual vocational training (IVT)
- In-company training (ICT)
- Apprentices
- School-age trainees
The compulsory industrial accident insurance doesn’t cover accidents involving you or people you don’t contractually employ.
For instance:
- Your son or daughter helping out for a few hours
- People in your waiting room
- Job applicants
- Children in your crèche
- Neighbours helping you at busy times
That’s why KBC Brussels also offers you the opportunity to take out accident insurance that covers yourself, any third parties and unpaid assistants.
We also offer guaranteed income insurance for employers, which covers you for accidents at work as well.
Was one of your employees the victim of an accident at work?
Read more about how to report an occupational accident below.
- This product is governed by the laws of Belgium.
- The types of cover in this policy apply for a term of one year or three years. The policy will be tacitly renewed on the renewal date for successive terms of the same duration as the initial term that is contracted unless the policy is cancelled no later than three months before the principal renewal date.
- Your intermediary is your first point of contact for any complaints you may have. If no agreement can be reached, you can contact KBC Brussels Complaints Management by post at Brusselsesteenweg 100, 3000 Leuven, by e-mail at complaints@kbc.be, by telephone on tel. 016 43 25 94 (freephone number) or 078 152045 (paid number), or by fax on 016 863038. If you cannot find a suitable solution, you can contact the Insurance Ombudsman – which serves the whole industry – by post at de Meeûssquare 35, 1000 Brussels, by e-mail at info@ombudsman.as, or through its website at www.ombudsman.as. However, you always retain the right to initiate legal proceedings.
- Contact your KBC Brussels insurance intermediary to request a quotation for compulsory industrial accident insurance under the KBC Commercial Employee Insurance Cover.
KBC Commercial Employee Insurance Cover is a product provided by KBC Insurance NV – Professor Roger Van Overstraetenplein 2 – 3000 Leuven – Belgium. VAT BE 0403.552.563 – RLP Leuven – IBAN BE43 7300 0420 0601 – BIC KREDBEBB. Company licensed by the National Bank of Belgium, De Berlaimontlaan 14, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, for all classes of insurance under code 0014 (Royal Decree of 4 July 1979, Belgian Official Gazette of 14 July 1979). Member of the KBC Group