Every product can (and will) fail, and every product can present risks. The key is to know what those risks are and take reasonable precautions. Product safety risk management includes two components: proactive risk prevention and reactive risk response. Obviously, the easiest way to manage risk is to avoid it. Unfortunately, the steps necessary to avoid risk in today’s high velocity, cost-constrained global marketplace for goods are not so easy.
In today’s world, it is no longer enough to rely on warranty reserves and claims policies to protect your business from allegedly unsafe products. Newly aggressive government agencies are demanding recalls and civil penalties for products which “could” create a risk of injury. Plus, agencies in different countries use different rules and standards, such that products which are perfectly “safe” in one country are subject to bans and recalls if sold in another. And class action lawyers have learned how to “mine” Internet complaint websites and public government complaint listings to craft scary-sounding allegations of product harm, intended to get you to settle quickly for large attorney fees.
Please click below to begin a 14 statement survey to gain your organization’s IQRM Effectiveness Risk Audit Score as relates to product liability.