A type of insurance that is designed for any business which is in contact with the public to cover (third party claims) or which pays compensation to a member of the public suffering injury or damage as a result of the policyholder or his/her employees failing to take reasonable care. It is important in a business because it helps to pay out in the event that a mistake is made by your business, which causes damage or injury to a customer or property.

Industry and commerce are based on a range of processes and activities that have the potential to affect third parties (members of the public, visitors, trespassers, sub-contractors, etc. who may be physically injured or whose property may be damaged or both).

A type of insurance in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause. Although the word “product” has broad connotations, product liability as an area of law is traditionally limited to products in the form of tangible personal property. Product liability insurance is not a compulsory class of insurance in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Types of Product Liability

• • Manufacturing defect – are those that occur in the manufacturing process and usually involve poor-quality materials or shoddy workmanship

• • Design defect – occur where the product design is inherently dangerous or useless (and hence defective) no matter how carefully manufactured; this may be demonstrated either by showing that the product fails to satisfy ordinary consumer expectations as to what constitutes a safe product, or that the risks of the product outweigh its benefits.

• • A failure to warn (also known as marketing defects) – Failure-to-warn defects arise in products that carry inherent no obvious dangers which could be mitigated through adequate warnings to the user, and these dangers are present regardless of how well the product is manufactured and designed for its intended purpose.

Mostly known as workers’ compensation insurance is “no-fault” protection that allows workers to recover medical costs and lost wages resulting from bodily injury suffered during work. Injuries and financial damages to outside parties directly related to an employee injury fall outside of the workers’ compensation “exclusive remedy” rule. Employers could be held liable for these damages without indemnification from employees’ liability coverage.