When a Ukrainian starts working in Switzerland, accident insurance usually feels like something the employer takes care of automatically. In principle that is true: compulsory accident insurance covers employees through their job. Yet behind this apparent simplicity lies a detail that decides whether you are protected only while working or also in your free time — and it is precisely this detail that is easiest to miss. Understanding how the system is built makes it less likely you will be left without cover where you expected it, while also sparing you from paying twice for the same risk.

Who is insured, and who pays

In Switzerland everyone must be protected against accidents, but the mechanism of that protection differs from one situation to the next. If you are an employee, your employer is obliged to insure you — this also applies to people working remotely or from home, as well as to apprentices and trainees. Part of the premium is deducted from your salary. If you are registered as unemployed and receive the corresponding benefits, cover runs automatically through the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (Suva), with the premium deducted from your benefit. The self-employed may take out such insurance voluntarily.

In all other cases there is no separate accident insurance, but the risk does not go uncovered: it is carried by compulsory health insurance. This applies, among others, to people running a household, as well as to children, students and pensioners. It is therefore worth checking your health insurance policy — in these situations it is the one responsible for treatment after an accident.

The eight-hour threshold that decides everything

The most important line in this system is the number of working hours per week. If you work at least eight hours a week for the same employer, your insurance covers both occupational accidents and illnesses and accidents that happen in your free time. If your weekly workload is below eight hours, the insurance covers occupational accidents only. In that case an accident on the way to and from work counts as occupational, but an injury during leisure, sport or household tasks is no longer covered through the employer.

A crucial subtlety is often forgotten: those eight hours must be worked for the same employer. Hours at different jobs are not added together. Someone who works four hours a week for one employer and six for another formally exceeds eight hours of employment, yet reaches the threshold at neither place — and therefore receives no full cover in their free time. The Federal Supreme Court has confirmed this logic. For the many Ukrainians who combine several part-time jobs, this is not a theoretical footnote but a real risk of being left unprotected exactly where accidents most often occur — away from work.

Why you shouldn't rush to cancel your health insurer's accident cover

From this threshold follows a practical conclusion about money. If you are fully insured against accidents through your employer — that is, you work at least eight hours a week — the accident cover within your basic health insurance becomes redundant. It can be put on hold, saving you premiums, since otherwise you pay for the same risk twice. This is a common and entirely sensible saving.

Yet this is exactly where a trap lies for anyone working fewer than eight hours. If your employer-based cover is limited to occupational accidents, you must not cancel the accident cover in your health insurance — otherwise an injury in your free time would be left entirely uncovered. Before changing your policy, you should look at your regular working time with each employer, not merely at the level of employment stated in your contract.

What counts as an accident

Before turning to benefits, it is worth understanding what the law regards as an accident in the first place. It means the sudden, unintended, harmful effect of an unusual external factor on the body — for instance a fall, a road accident, a sports injury or an animal bite. Ordinary illnesses or the gradual wear and tear of the body, by contrast, do not count as an accident. It is precisely at this boundary that disputes most often arise over who bears the costs — accident insurance or the health insurer — and in a borderline case the responsible accident insurer assesses whether the event meets the legal criteria.

What the insurance covers, and how much it pays

When accident insurance takes on the case, it reimburses the medical costs connected with the accident, and does so without any deductible or retention fee. If, on the other hand, the health insurer covers the accident, the deductible and the retention fee do apply — another reason to look carefully at the choice of policy.

If an injury leaves a person temporarily unable to work, the daily allowance is paid from the third day after the accident and amounts to 80 percent of the insured salary. Who covers the salary for the first two days depends on labour law, a collective labour agreement or the individual employment contract; in most cases the employer pays the salary for this period. The basis for the allowance is the insured salary, for which a ceiling applies — as of 2026, this is CHF 148,200 per year; anything above that sum is not covered by the compulsory insurance and calls for a supplementary policy.

Long-term benefits are also provided. A disability pension is granted when continued medical treatment is no longer expected to bring any significant improvement in health, and the degree of disability is at least 10 percent — a lower threshold than under general disability insurance. In the case of full disability, this pension reaches 80 percent of the insured salary. There may also be an integrity compensation for lasting damage to health and a helplessness allowance for those permanently dependent on the help of others. If the insured person dies as a result of an accident, the spouse or registered partner and the children are entitled to a survivors' pension.

What to do immediately after an accident

What you do depends on how you are insured. Employees must inform their employer as quickly as possible, and the employer is obliged to report the incident to the insurer without delay. The unemployed turn to the Regional Employment Centre or to Suva. Anyone insured against accidents through their health insurer informs that insurer and reports the case according to its own procedure — online, through an app or using the relevant form.

One warning deserves particular attention: anyone who keeps working against medical advice or conceals their fitness for work risks the insurer reducing or reclaiming a daily allowance that was paid out unduly. A medical certificate is therefore not a mere formality — it has a financial side as well.

A policy check worth a few minutes

Switzerland's accident insurance system is logically built, yet its protection does not always apply as automatically as it first appears. Those most exposed are precisely the people working part-time or combining several jobs — a group that includes many Ukrainians during the early stage of settling in. A few minutes spent comparing your weekly hours with each employer and reading through your health insurance policy can guard against the most unpleasant scenario: an injury in your free time that suddenly turns out to be uncovered.

This article explains the general logic of the system and does not replace individual advice. Because situations differ — in the number of hours, the type of employment and the terms of the policy — the binding answer in any specific case comes from the official bodies or a specialist.

Sources:

• ch.ch – Accident insurance: https://www.ch.ch/en/insurance/accident-insurance/
• Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) – Accident insurance: https://www.bag.admin.ch/en/accident-insurance
• OASI/IV (AHV/IV) – Accident and occupational diseases insurance (UV): https://www.ahv-iv.ch/en/Social-insurances/Other-types-of-social-insurances/Accident-and-occupational-diseases-incurance-UV