Product Liability/Product Recall and The Cost Of Human Life In The U.S.

I heard something both comforting and disturbing at the same time the other day, when I was talking with a Product Liability wholesale broker. 

We were talking about a prospect that designed and manufactured big commercial slides for water parks and the type of claims typically associated with this product liability risk. 

The disturbing part of the conversation was that he said many of the big designers and manufactures of high risk products such as waterslides were taking their new designs overseas to sell before bringing them back to the U.S. to sell because the cost of a human life was so much less in other foreign countries than it is in the U.S.   In other words, if the design of the product turns out to be defective and people are injured or die, it is much less expensive to handle claims in other countries than the U.S. 

I guess the comforting part of this conversation was knowing that the products in the U.S. my children are using are much more likely to be safe because, if they are not, companies know that there could be a costly product liability lawsuit or an expensive recall of their products.

While I am happy that my children are safe, I am also a little sad that they do not get the opportunity to learn to dive off a diving board or swing on a tire swing because insurance premiums make it too expensive to provide such activities or products.