Insurance for your business

Product liability insurance for your business

If your business sells or manufactures products, you are responsible for the quality of those items and any problems that occur with them once they are sold. Essentially you are legally responsible for any damage that those products cause to your customers.

What does public liability insurance cover?

If your products cause injury to a person or damage to their property, you could be liable to pay for any compensation costs. Product liability would cover those costs on your behalf, helping you to avoid what could be considerable expense to your business.

Which businesses need product liability?

Even if you haven’t manufactured a faulty product you could still be liable for it if you have sold it. You are liable if your business name is on the product; if your business has repaired or made changes to the product; if you imported it from outside the EU; if you cannot clearly identify the manufacturer or if the manufacturer has gone out of business.

Otherwise the manufacturer or processor is responsible. However a retailer will still have to prove certain things, for example that the products were faulty when supplied to you.

Details to look out for on your policy

• There may be stipulations as to quality control of products which you must adhere to in order to be covered.
• Check what the exclusions are on the policy to make sure you have the cover that best fits your business.
• Some products invite more risk than others. Make sure you get the level of cover that is right for your products.