If you are a seller of goods, whether a manufacturer, intermediary or retailer, you may incur liability to your customers and others for death, injury, illness or damage to their property. This be the result of inadequate design, faulty manufacture, inadequate instructions, contamination or damage prior to supply. Product liability is the legal responsibility imposed on a business for the manufacturing or selling of defective goods.
Products liability insurance is designed to cover the cost of compensation to anyone who is injured, or whose property is damaged by a faulty product; for example, medication that is contaminated with a harmful substance, a faulty hammer head which flies off when used, hitting a customer on the head or a restaurant that supplied food which caused a customer to become ill. Cover is only included for the payment of compensation and any associated legal costs – it does not include the cost of replacing the defective product itself.