Accident Insurance Act (UVG)

What is the UVG?

UVG stands for the Federal Act of 20 March 1981 on Accident Insurance (Unfallversicherungsgesetz), in English often called the Accident Insurance Act. In everyday language, the term also refers to the insurance itself: the compulsory accident insurance that every employer must take out for its employees. It covers the consequences of accidents and occupational diseases: treatment costs, loss of earnings and, for permanent damage, pensions and compensation for impairment to integrity.

Under Art. 4 of the Federal Act on the General Part of Social Insurance Law (ATSG), an accident is the sudden, unintentional harmful effect of an unusual external factor on the human body. The UVG distinguishes three cases:

• Work-related accident: an accident at work, during breaks or on the company premises.
• Non-work-related accident (NBU): any other accident, i.e. in your free time, during sport or at home.
• Occupational disease: an illness caused mainly by your work.

The UVG matters for health insurance because it takes precedence. Basic health insurance under the Federal Health Insurance Act (KVG/LAMal) only pays for accidents if no accident insurance covers them. If you are fully insured under the UVG through your employer, you therefore do not need accident cover with your health insurer and can suspend it. Among those not insured under the UVG are children, pupils, students, pensioners, people not in work and self-employed people without voluntary UVG insurance. For them, the health insurer remains responsible for accidents. How the two fit together in everyday life is explained under accident insurance.

How it works

Who is insured

All employees working in Switzerland are compulsorily insured, including apprentices, interns and volunteers, as well as people receiving unemployment benefit. Self-employed people and family members working with them can take out insurance voluntarily.

Your workload decides whether you are covered in your free time: if you work at least 8 hours a week for one employer, you are also insured against non-work-related accidents. If you work fewer hours, you are only insured against work-related accidents; accidents on the way to work then count as work-related accidents.

Who provides the insurance

Employees in certain sectors, such as industry, construction, forestry or metalworking, are insured with Suva. For everyone else, the employer takes out insurance with a private insurer, a public accident insurance fund or a health insurer listed in the register of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).

Benefits

• Medical treatment: outpatient treatment, medicines, hospital stays in the general ward, aids and appliances. You are free to choose your doctor and hospital. There is no deductible or retention fee as in health insurance.
• Daily allowance: from the third day after the day of the accident, 80% of insured earnings if you are fully unable to work, reduced if you are partly unable to work. It is paid for every calendar day, including Sundays and public holidays.
• Disability pension: 80% of insured earnings in the case of full disability.
• Compensation for impairment to integrity: for permanent and significant damage to your physical, mental or psychological integrity.
• Survivors’ pensions in the event of death.

Salary is insured up to a maximum of CHF 148,200 a year or CHF 406 a day. Insurance also covers certain injuries such as bone fractures, torn menisci and tendons or ligament injuries without an accident, unless they are mainly due to wear and tear or illness.

Premiums

The employer pays the premium for work-related accidents and occupational diseases. The employee bears the premium for non-work-related accidents; the employer deducts it from the salary, unless agreed otherwise. On your payslip it usually appears as “NBU”.

Start and end

Cover starts on your first working day, at the latest when you first set off for work. It ends on the 31st day after the day your entitlement to at least half your salary ends. With extended accident insurance (Abredeversicherung), you can extend cover by up to 6 months, for example for a trip around the world or a break between two jobs.

Legal basis

Accident insurance is based on Art. 117 of the Federal Constitution and governed by the UVG. Art. 1a UVG determines who is compulsorily insured, Art. 4 UVG voluntary insurance for the self-employed. Art. 3 UVG governs the start and end of cover: para. 2 ends cover on the 31st day after the entitlement to at least half the salary ends, and para. 3 requires the insurer to offer an extension of up to six months by special agreement.

Art. 6 UVG provides that benefits are paid for work-related accidents, non-work-related accidents and occupational diseases; para. 2 lists the bodily injuries similar to accidents. Art. 7 and Art. 8 UVG distinguish between work-related and non-work-related accidents. The threshold of 8 hours a week for free-time cover is in Art. 13 of the Accident Insurance Ordinance (UVV). Medical treatment is governed by Art. 10 UVG, the daily allowance by Art. 16 and Art. 17 UVG, the disability pension by Art. 20 UVG and compensation for impairment to integrity by Art. 24 UVG. Art. 22 para. 1 UVV sets the maximum insured earnings, and Art. 25 UVV with Annex 2 the calculation of the daily allowance. The obligation to pay premiums is in Art. 91 UVG.

The relationship with health insurance is governed by Art. 8 KVG: if you are fully insured under the UVG, you can suspend accident cover with your health insurer, and the premium is reduced. Under Art. 91a para. 4 KVV, the reduction may be no more than 7%.

Example: daily allowance after a skiing accident

Tom is 36 and works full time. He earns CHF 6,500 a month and receives a 13th monthly salary. On Saturday, 07.03.2026, he breaks his wrist skiing. He is fully unable to work up to and including 29.03.2026.

For the days before the daily allowance starts, i.e. 08.03. and 09.03., the employer must pay at least 80% of the salary under Art. 324b para. 3 of the Code of Obligations (CO). In practice, many employers pay the full salary for the whole period and receive the daily allowance in return.

If Tom were a student rather than an employee, his health insurer would pay for the treatment, and he would bear the deductible and retention fee. There would be no daily allowance.

What this means for you

1. Check your payslip. If it shows an NBU deduction, you are also insured in your free time through your employer.
2. Suspend accident cover with your health insurer. With at least 8 hours a week for one employer, you are insured twice if you keep your health insurer’s accident cover. Suspension reduces the premium by the accident portion, by no more than 7%. The premium calculator compares premiums with and without accident cover, and instructions are under exclude accident cover.
3. Report every change of job. If your employment ends or your workload drops below 8 hours a week, you must add accident cover back to your health insurance. Otherwise the insurer can claim the accident portion of the premium retroactively, plus default interest.
4. Use extended accident insurance. If you are planning a longer break between two jobs, it extends your UVG cover by up to 6 months. Ask your employer or its insurer.
5. Report accidents to your employer immediately. Your employer forwards the report to the accident insurer.

If you switch health insurer, state in your application whether accident cover should be included. The dates are under deadlines and the insurer profiles under health insurers.

Common mistakes

• Paying for accident cover twice. Many employees keep paying the accident portion to their health insurer even though they are insured under the UVG.
• Forgetting accident cover after your job ends. 31 days after your entitlement to salary ends, you have no accident cover through your employer. Your health insurer then has to step in, and accident cover must be included there again.
• Misjudging part-time workloads. If you work fewer than 8 hours for each of several employers, you are not insured under the UVG in your free time anywhere.
• Believing the self-employed are automatically insured. Self-employed people need voluntary UVG insurance or the accident cover of their health insurer.
• Confusing illness and accident. Back pain without an external event is usually not an accident; your health insurer then pays, with deductible and retention fee.