Protection

Workplace accident as a self-employed worker: who pays, and what to do?

By the Finances Indépendants editorial teamUpdated on 4 min read

Contents
  1. Is a self-employed worker covered by workplace accident insurance?
  2. Injured while working: what the health insurance fund covers
  3. Reporting your incapacity: seven days, not one more
  4. Accident caused by a third party: the fund turns to them
  5. Closing the gap: private policies and employer obligations
  6. Further reading
  7. Frequently asked questions
Workplace accident as a self-employed worker: who pays, and what to do?
7 days
Deadline to report your incapacity to the fund's medical adviserNIHDI2026
€1,704.56
Monthly NIHDI flat rate for a single self-employed person, first yearNIHDI2026
10%
Reduction of the daily benefit if you report lateNIHDI2026

Is a self-employed worker covered by workplace accident insurance?

No. The private-sector workplace accidents act protects employees, who are insured by their employer. Fedris, the federal agency for occupational risks, states it plainly: traders, liberal professions and other self-employed workers are not subject to it. A fall in your workshop therefore gives no right to a workplace accident annuity.

The difference matters. An employee injured at work is compensated by the employer's insurer, in proportion to their salary. You stay in the general scheme: the illness scheme, run by your health insurance fund, with a flat rate that ignores your income.

One narrow exception exists: the Asbestos Fund, run by Fedris, also compensates self-employed people with an asbestos-related disease. It does not apply to accidents.

Injured while working: what the health insurance fund covers

The health insurance fund reimburses your care as for any accident and, if you can no longer work, pays the self-employed incapacity benefit. It is due from the first day, provided the recognised incapacity lasts at least 8 days. A sprain that stops you for five days pays nothing.

The amount is a daily flat rate that depends on your household situation: €82.64 with dependants, €65.56 for a single person, €50.28 for a cohabitant, on a six-day-week basis. The amounts and what happens after a year are set out in the article on incapacity for self-employed workers.

Who pays what depends mainly on the cause of the accident:

Who compensates

What you do

You injure yourself alone while working

Your health insurance fund (care and NIHDI flat rate)

Report the incapacity within 7 days

A third party causes the accident

The fund first, then the liable party or their insurer

Tell the fund about the third party, claim the rest from them

Your employee is injured

Your workplace accident insurer

Report the accident to that insurer

NIHDI flat rates for the primary incapacity period as at 1 September 2026.

Reporting your incapacity: seven days, not one more

You have 7 calendar days to report your incapacity to the medical adviser of your health insurance fund, not counting the first day of incapacity. If the last day falls on a weekend or public holiday, you have until the next working day. Your doctor's certificate states whether the incapacity results from an accident.

If you report late, each day's benefit is cut by 10%, from the day your entitlement starts up to and including the day you report. The fund may waive this for a low household income or force majeure, where the loss reaches at least €25, and only once per incapacity period.

If you are in hospital, you have nothing to report during the stay: you report just after you are discharged.

Accident caused by a third party: the fund turns to them

When a third party is liable, say a driver who knocks you down on your rounds, the health insurance fund compensates you first, then recovers what it paid from the liable party or their insurer. The law subrogates the fund to your rights, up to what it has paid (Article 136(2) of the coordinated law of 14 July 1994).

Two practical consequences. Tell your fund about the third party when you report. And do not sign a settlement alone with the other side's insurer: a settlement concluded without the fund cannot be relied on against it.

What the fund does not cover, income loss above the flat rate or non-financial and material damage, you claim from the liable party under the general law of liability. Legal expenses cover, often attached to professional liability insurance, helps you pursue that claim.

Closing the gap: private policies and employer obligations

Without statutory insurance, a self-employed worker builds accident protection through contracts, by choice and at their own expense. Two tools complement each other without replacing each other: one makes up for lost income over months, the other pays a one-off lump sum. And as soon as you hire someone, insurance becomes compulsory for them.

  • Income protection insurance pays a monthly benefit during incapacity, whether caused by illness or accident. This is the policy that closes the gap with the NIHDI flat rate.
  • Personal accident insurance pays a fixed lump sum for serious bodily injury or death. Useful as a top-up, it does not replace an income over several months.
  • If you employ staff, workplace accident insurance is compulsory for them from their first day, with an approved insurer, and retroactive cover is not possible. Otherwise Fedris enrols you automatically with a higher contribution, recovers from you what it has paid, and criminal proceedings are possible.

Further reading

The pages on this site that explore each of the points covered here in more depth.

Frequently asked questions

  • No. The private-sector workplace accidents act only applies to employees, who are insured by their employer. A self-employed worker injured during their activity falls under their health insurance fund, as for an illness: reimbursement of care and a NIHDI incapacity flat rate unrelated to income. Only a private policy can top up that cover.

  • A daily flat rate that depends on the household situation: €82.64 with dependants, €65.56 for a single person and €50.28 for a cohabitant, on a six-day-week basis. The benefit is due from the first day if the incapacity lasts at least 8 days.

  • Within 7 calendar days, not counting the first day of incapacity, to the medical adviser of your fund. If the deadline ends on a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next working day. During a hospital stay, you report just after you are discharged.

  • Each day's benefit, from the start of your entitlement up to and including the day you report, is cut by 10%. The fund may waive the cut for a low household income or force majeure, where the loss reaches at least €25, once per incapacity period.

  • Your health insurance fund compensates you first, then recovers its costs from the liable party or their insurer, up to what it has paid. The rest of your loss, such as income above the flat rate or non-financial damage, you claim from the liable party. Do not sign any settlement with the other side's insurer without telling your fund.

  • Yes. Every private-sector employer must insure its paid staff with an approved insurer from the first working day, including for occasional or part-time work. Retroactive cover is impossible. Without insurance, Fedris enrols you automatically, with a higher contribution, and recovers from you whatever it has paid out.

Topics covered

Topics covered: workplace accident self-employed Belgium · self-employed injured at work · workplace accident insurance self-employed · accident self-employed health insurance fund · reporting incapacity self-employed 7 days · liable third party accident health insurance fund · private accident insurance self-employed · Fedris self-employed.

Official sources

  1. Fedris, Qui est assuré contre les accidents du travail ?. View (new tab)(Official source, accessed on 2026-10-25)
  2. Fedris, Obligations de l'employeur. View (new tab)(Official source, accessed on 2026-10-25)
  3. NIHDI (INAMI/RIZIV), Déclarer et être reconnu en incapacité de travail comme travailleur indépendant. View (new tab)(Official source, accessed on 2026-10-25)
  4. NIHDI (INAMI/RIZIV), Montants des indemnités des travailleurs indépendants. View (new tab)(Official source, accessed on 2026-10-25)
  5. NIHDI (INAMI/RIZIV), Bulletin d'information 2011/3 (subrogation de l'organisme assureur, article 136, § 2). View (new tab)(Official source, accessed on 2026-10-25)

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