Defective products can cause serious injuries and property damage. Some product liability lawsuits settle for billions of dollars. No company ever intends to design a defective product that could hurt someone. However, any organization that designs, manufactures, distributes, or markets products must still take this risk seriously.
Types of Product Defects
There are three main types of product defects:
- Design: Involves a problem with the actual design of the product.
- Manufacturing: Happens when a manufacturer doesn’t follow the product’s design plan.
- Marketing: Occurs when a product doesn’t have proper warnings or labels or has insufficient instructions.
Best Practices for Minimizing Product Liability Risk
- Control or eliminate hazards and risks in the product design phase.
- Ensure all manufacturing equipment meets quality assurance standards.
- Test products in house.
- Ensure all products comply with industry and government safety standards.
- Confirm all labels, warnings, and instructions adhere to required standards.
- Hold regularly-scheduled safety reviews.
- Understand your exposure if you import foreign products or materials.
- Enable and review customer feedback.
- Keep all essential records.
Our safety summary on product liability contains more in-depth information on the types of defects and best practices as well as record-keeping tips and what to do if your organization suspects one of your products is defective. Check it out!
