Suva

What is Suva?

Suva is the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund. For certain sectors, it provides compulsory accident insurance under the Accident Insurance Act (UVG). Legally, it is an autonomous institution under public law with its own legal personality, based in Lucerne. It operates on the principle of mutuality and is under the overall supervision of the Confederation, exercised by the Federal Council (Art. 61 UVG). It is governed by the Suva Council, with 16 representatives of employees, 16 of employers and 8 of the Confederation (Art. 63 UVG).

Suva is not a health insurer. It does not insure illnesses, but accidents and occupational diseases. It still matters for health insurance: if you are insured through your employer under the UVG, whether with Suva or another insurer, you do not need the accident cover in basic health insurance and can have it excluded.

Suva is not the only accident insurer. Depending on the sector, compulsory accident insurance is provided by Suva or by other authorised insurers (Art. 58 UVG). The same law with the same minimum benefits applies to all of them (Art. 70 para. 1 UVG). Together with the labour inspectorates, Suva also enforces the rules on preventing work-related accidents and occupational diseases (Art. 85 UVG), and since 01.07.2005 it has run military insurance as a separate social insurance with separate accounts (Art. 67 UVG, Art. 81 MVG).

How it works

Who is insured with Suva

All employees working in Switzerland are compulsorily insured under the UVG, including apprentices, trainees and homeworkers, as well as unemployed people (Art. 1a para. 1 UVG). The employer’s sector determines whether Suva or another insurer is responsible. Employees of the following businesses, among others, are insured with Suva (Art. 66 para. 1 UVG):

• industrial businesses;
• the construction and installation trades and pipeline construction;
• forestry businesses and businesses extracting materials from the earth’s crust;
• businesses that machine metal, wood, plastics, stone or glass;
• transport and haulage businesses;
• electricity, gas and water supply, waste disposal and wastewater treatment;
• businesses that supply temporary workers;
• the federal administration, federal enterprises and federal institutions.

The employer insures all other employees, for example in offices, retail, hospitality or healthcare, with a private insurance company, a public accident insurance fund or a health insurer entered in the FOPH register (Art. 68 UVG).

What is covered

• Work-related accidents: accidents at work, during breaks and on the company’s premises (Art. 7 UVG), see work-related accident.
• Non-work-related accidents: all other accidents, for example during sport or at home (Art. 8 UVG), see non-work-related accident. Only covered if you work at least eight hours a week for one employer; below that, accidents on the way to and from work count as work-related accidents (Art. 13 UVV).
• Occupational diseases: illnesses caused exclusively or mainly by harmful substances or certain kinds of work (Art. 9 UVG).

What benefits there are

Suva covers appropriate medical treatment of the consequences of the accident, both outpatient and inpatient in the general ward of a hospital (Art. 10 UVG). If you cannot work, you receive a daily allowance of 80% of your insured earnings from the third day after the day of the accident (Art. 16 and 17 UVG), on earnings of at most CHF 148,200 a year (Art. 22 para. 1 UVV). If there are lasting consequences, an invalidity pension and compensation for impairment to integrity are added (Art. 18 and 24 UVG).

The employer bears the premium for work-related accidents and occupational diseases. The premium for non-work-related accidents is deducted from your salary, unless the employer chooses to pay it (Art. 91 UVG).

Legal basis

• Art. 58 and 61–67 UVG: accident insurance is provided by Suva or other authorised insurers; legal status, bodies (Suva Council, management board, auditors) and the running of military insurance.
• Art. 66 UVG: exhaustive list of the businesses whose employees are insured with Suva; the Federal Council specifies the businesses concerned in more detail.
• Art. 68 UVG: for everyone else, private insurers, public accident insurance funds and health insurers entered in the FOPH register are responsible.
• Art. 1a, 7, 8 and 9 UVG, Art. 13 UVV: insured persons, work-related accidents, non-work-related accidents with the eight-hour threshold, and occupational diseases.
• Art. 10, 16–17 UVG, Art. 22 UVV: medical treatment and daily allowance with the maximum insured earnings.
• Art. 91 UVG: how premiums are split between employer and employees.
• Art. 8 KVG: at your request, accident cover in basic health insurance is suspended if you have full cover under the UVG. It resumes as soon as UVG cover ends in whole or in part.

Example: three people, three situations

The table shows how sector and workload determine accident cover. The premiums refer to the cheapest offer with a CHF 300 deductible for adults in the city of Bern (premiums 2026, municipality of Bern, region 1; source: FOPH): CHF 545.90 a month with accident cover, CHF 507.70 without.

If Reto earns CHF 80,600 a year and cannot work after an accident at work, Suva pays him 80% of CHF 80,600 ÷ 365 from the third day after the day of the accident, that is CHF 176.66 per calendar day. The table in Annex 2 UVV may differ by a few centimes.

What this means for you

1. Find out who your accident insurer is. Your payslip shows a deduction for non-work-related accidents (NBU). The HR department knows which insurer is responsible.
2. Exclude accident cover if you can. If you work at least eight hours a week for one employer, ask your health insurer to suspend accident cover. The steps are explained in Excluding accident cover, and the premium calculator shows the premium with and without accident cover.
3. Include cover again when your job ends. UVG cover ends on the 31st day after the end of your entitlement to salary (Art. 3 para. 2 UVG). Tell your health insurer in good time that it must cover accidents again.
4. Report an accident immediately. Tell your employer and your doctor that it was an accident. The practice then bills the accident insurer and not the health insurer.
5. Adding up several jobs? The eight-hour threshold applies per employer. If you have two small part-time jobs, you may not be insured against accidents in your free time with either employer.

The profiles under Health insurers give an overview of the health insurers with which you can take out basic health insurance with or without accident cover.

Common mistakes

• Thinking Suva is a health insurer. Suva covers accidents and occupational diseases, not illnesses. Basic health insurance remains responsible for illness.
• Believing only people insured with Suva can exclude accident cover. Anyone with full UVG cover can do so, including with a private accident insurer.
• Insuring accidents twice. If you are insured through your employer and keep accident cover in basic health insurance, you pay a share of the premium that brings you nothing.
• Staying without accident cover after leaving a job. Once UVG cover ends, accidents are covered by basic health insurance again by law (Art. 8 para. 2 KVG), but the health insurer has to know so that it can adjust the premium correctly.
• Having an accident billed as an illness. You then pay a deductible and retention fee, although the accident insurer would have to pay without any co-payment.

How we compare premiums with and without accident cover is explained under How we calculate.