SB - Insurance - making baby slings?

LittleBrownFrog

Hi there, this is my first post here, but I've been reading back through the topics covered & everyone seems really helpful!

I'm about to start a business making and selling baby slings as a sole trader. I'm not planning on setting the world alight, just giving myself a bit of pocket money & something to do while I stay at home with the children.

I'm wondering about insurance though - in terms of what would happen if someone's child was injured either as a result of the user not using it correctly, or as a result of a fault in the product.

What kind of insurance do I need? Can anyone recommend a good company?

Thanks for reading this,

Liz

SCOTTEX

Hi Littlebrownfrog,

Congrats on your 1st post & welcome.

I run a manufacturing company and was approached to manufacture these baby slings by the thousand. After we had done several versions and trials with dolls and various things, we decided it was far too risky and unsafe.

I asked myself, would I put my baby in one to carry and the answer was no, so i couldn't do it to anybody else.

We have £ 10million in insurance but it didn't matter about the money, if a baby was injured through one of our products, I'd shut the company and walk away.

If you want a safer idea, what about half moon baby cushions, safer, easier to make, nice designs to play with and you can't cause any harm. Plus you'll sell more.

LittleBrownFrog

Thanks for the input, but I have to say that I absolutely disagree with you. I have three children & have no hesitation in using my own baby slings - every day with my 7 month old, and less often, but still regularly with my two year old. People all over the world have carried their children for hundreds of years & there is plenty of research to suggest that this is far safer and better for childrens' development than using pushchairs.

You're entitled to your opinion, this is mine & I intend to pursue the idea and don't anticipate a problem in selling the small numbers that I am intending to produce.

Any more useful advice anyone?

Astaroth

As you are manufacturing you will need public liability insurance & product liability insurance to protect against being sued for injuries allegedly sustained due to the use of the product.

Rightly or wrongly infant claims are actually a relatively low value as they dont have dependants and there is no proof that they were going to be high flying executives or solicitors etc. The one other piece of advice is to keep your proof of insurance for a damned long time as the law of limitations give an individual 3 years to make a claim from the date of knowing which for a child is their 18th b'day. If they suffered brain injury then it is from the date they recover from this or their 18th b'day (which ever is later) and given that some never recover there may be no limit to when they can make a claim.

Commercial lines insurance is very different from personal lines. Brokers are still the way to go as whilst there has been minor in roads made to the SME market by direct insurers these are very much for "standard" risks like shops or photographers and not things that deviate from this. Also dont think it is unusual for it to take a few days for a quote to come through as frequently an actual underwriter will need to assess the risk rather than a computerised program as used for personal motor insurance.

LittleBrownFrog

Thank you! That's exactly what I wanted to know... I'll start researching things a bit more now that I know what I'm looking for.

gingerkirsty

Product liability insurance will not protect you from a claim if your product was faulty, only if used incorrectly. Please don't forget that.

You will have to go through a broker as the (2 that I know of) companies that will offer you insurance in this counry will only deal with brokers. You will also not be able to sell to the US. A broker is legally obliged to offer you the best price for you so worth using anyway. The pp is definitely right it can take days to receive a quote.

There are LOTS of threads to this effect on the babywearer as well as the UK based AP forums. They might be worth a visit.

Good luck. We know it's safe :beer: