22 May 2019 • 1 min read

Make sure your liability insurance covers you for product recall

Melita Thurling, our General Liabilities product champion, was interviewed by Cover Magazine‘s Tony van Niekerk about situations in which a business may need to recall a product. This issue came into the spotlight with the 2018 listeriosis outbreak in South Africa, when it was found that certain processed meats carried...

Melita Thurling

Melita Thurling

According to Thurling, having excellent insurance in instances like this is key, as it ensures access to good legal representation. Comprehensive insurance also helps manage two other key aspects in this kind of situation:

  • One very urgent point is the product recall exercise to ensure no more harm is caused by products in the public domain.
  • The second important consideration is product liability itself in the case that any harm has been caused that the business can be held liable for.

General (or broadform) liability will cover point 1 if you have you have selected the product recall extension.

But of course no broker can foresee every eventuality – how can they ensure that clients have no gaps in their cover? We recommend developing a close relationship with clients to develop a real understanding of their businesses and to get to know what their risks are. Work with clients to run various scenarios of what can go wrong, and be aware of various risk trends in your industry – in this case, food safety.