• Child Craft (out of business)
• Delta Enterprise Corp of New York, NY
• Evenflo of Miamisburg, OH
• Jardine Enterprises of Taipei, Taiwan
• LaJobi of Cranbury, N.J.
• Million Dollar Baby of Montebello, Calif.
• Simmons Juvenile Products, Inc. of New London, Wis.
   

Apparently, drop down cribs have a long history of problems and are known to be less structurally sound than four fixed side cribs.  In the last 5 years, more than 9 million drop down cribs have been recalled from the market.  They are also more suscetible to age related wear and tear and incorrect assembly than the fixed side cribs.

If you want to know more about crib safety, go to JPMA Crib Safety.

Keep in mind that recalls are simply not for defective products that do not work as intended.  To implement a product recall there must be some evidence that the product presents an imminent danger to cause bodily injury or property damage.

The following items may surprise you to be on the product recall list:

• Denture cream
• Foot Warmer
• Car Floor Mats
• Coffee Mugs
• Office Chairs
• Candle Holders
• Women’s Robes
• DVD Players
• Flashlights
• Women’s Shoes
• Indoor Light Fixtures
• Key Chains
• Computer Batteries
• Entertainment Stands
• Window Blinds

The point I am trying to make is that all of the manufacturers, importers or distributors of these products could not have anticipated the type of problems they are currently experiencing. 

So the next time you feel like paying for product liability insurance is a rip off, I recommend you go to www.recalls.gov and look at all the products being recalled and ask yourself if your business could survive without product liability or product recall insurance, if one of your products ended up on the list.

Many manufacturers, assemblers and importers of equipment such as machinery, piping and hoses overlook the fact that chemicals will be passing through their products and think that their product liability policy will cover them in the event a chemical is released causing property damage or bodily injury.  A defective product that releases chemicals into the environment can render business property completely unusable and potentially cause far reaching and long lasting environmental damage that could take massive amounts of money to rectify.  The damages could easily reach into the million of dollars.

Most general liability and product liability policies specifically deny coverage for bodily injury or property damage arising from the discharge of pollutants “which arises of ‘your work’ … or … which arises out of ‘your product’”. 

The next time you and your risk managers meet, I highly recommend that you discuss your pollution liability exposure.  You may agree that your pollution liability may be roughly the same or higher than your product liability exposure.

Remember the primary reason you should buy insurance – to cover severity and catastrophic loss.  Even a minor pollution spill may be too expensive to cover out of pocket and possibly expose the officers and owners of the business to personal liability.

Most retailers, assemblers and distributors of products are not aware of real degree of liability for which they are responsible.  Below are 10 ways you may be ultimately responsible for a defective product even though another manufactured the product:

1. You rebuild or remanufacture a product for resale;
2. You exercise control over the manufacturer such as providing product specifications;
3. You are the successor of a manufacture of an injury-causing product;
4. You are an employer and you modified a product or manufactured a product that injured your employee;
5. You represent yourself as the manufacture of the product to the public;
6. You apply your name, tradename or trademark to the product;
7. Your advertising leads the public to believe you are the manufacture;
8. Your sales methods leads the public to believe you are the manufacture;
9. The seller of the product is a subsidiary or agent of the manufacture and the manufacture exercises control over the seller;
10. You are the importer and distributor of a foreign product.

It is important that if a manufacturer makes a product for you that you clearly identify the manufacturer on a label or other markings of the product and you distinguish yourself as a distributor by “distributed by” or “made for” wording on the label or product.