Crisis Management

Contamination in products continues to create havoc for consumers and businesses around the globe. Whether the contamination is accidental or the result of product tampering, Liberty’s Contaminated Product Insurance policy coverage protects all aspects of the food, beverage, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

Our crisis management team supports brokers and their clients through the whole process, from customising cover to handling claims. In the event of a crisis, it is the client’s response in the critical first hours and days that will determine the impact of the crisis on the business. This is when the experience and expertise of Liberty’s Crisis Management consultants is crucial: they can provide advice and assistance to help deal with the crisis at hand and help protect our clients’ brands and business reputation. Our crisis response consultants have 20 years’ experience in the food industry, and Liberty’s claims team has been efficiently handling recall claims since 2009.

In the past food and beverage manufacturers have relied on contaminated product policies, which only offer protection in the event of an incident that could cause bodily harm to a consumer. However, food and beverage production is a fine art and sometimes problems on the manufacturing line can leave a product safe but tasting different or unfit for consumption.

Our SME Food and Beverage Recall policy is specifically tailored for businesses with annual sales of less than US$20 million. This simple yet comprehensive policy offers pre-underwritten premiums for up to US$1 million limit of liability, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy. Designed to respond to both product recalls and withdrawals, it helps to protect importers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors of finished products from the risk of contamination and the withdrawal of their product, due to a manufacturing error or quality control issue.

The financial impact of product recalls can be highly damaging. In many cases, product recall expenses are excluded under standard product liability insurance policies and so little, if any, cover is provided for a client’s loss.

Liberty’s PRplus insurance policy offers broader protection. Additionally, the policy can be varied to meet the specific needs of an organisation, including additional cover (such as Product Guarantee) and limits to match exposures.

Kidnapping can occur almost anywhere, and the list of high-risk countries changes all the time. Apart from the trauma suffered by the victim, the financial and reputational impact on a company can be enormous, and requires skilled handling.

Liberty’s comprehensive solution reduces clients’ exposure and minimises the impact of an incident on staff and operations.

Liberty publishes a regular email newsletter, Recall Monitor, to help brokers and clients keep abreast of the latest Australian product recalls, their locations and their causes.

If a crisis that may be covered under one of Liberty’s Crisis Management Solutions Policies is first discovered during the policy period, or within 90 days of the policy period expiry, the insured should: