PLANNING
What You Don’t Know
About Risk Could Kill Your Business
A
ll businesses commonly insure against fire, Product Liability Safeguards
theft, and accidents, but there are many less
• Avoid product liability issues altogether by not
tangible threats that could prove just as deadly to
putting defective products on the market, and
your company. Some prime areas of vulnerability
obey laws directing you to notify customers if
pertain to intellectual property violations, prod-
you upgrade the safety of an item already on the
uct liability issues, employee safety, supply chain
market.
security, and business leadership succession. The
• This post-sale duty means more attentive
informed and nimble business person will be able
recording and maintenance of customer
to weigh these risks as part of any decision-making,
data—and perhaps an evaluation of how well
your company would weather a product liability
as well as strive to mitigate these dangers as much
lawsuit. Initiate a policy dictating the wording of
as possible.
documents, which documents are retained, and
which are disposed of.
Intellectual Property Protection
• If you anticipate a risk in a product, design
• Prosecuting and defending against Intellectual
around it by adding a physical or technical
Property (IP) legal claims are expensive safeguard or listing specific warnings on the
propositions, both in terms of money and product.
business interruption. Being the victim of IP theft
can require a huge expenditure of effort, time,
Workplace Violence
and money, and if you are the violator, expect to
• Workplace violence is on the rise and employers
pay hefty damages. Some states have laws that
can be held responsible for violence that its
could make IP violation a criminal act as well.
employees commit. Having a clear workplace
• Protect your own rights and products, and
violence policy in place ensures situations are
guard against infringing on the rights of others.
addressed quickly and correctly.
• Use background checks and screening during
Be vigilantly aware of your own intellectual
hiring to filter out potentially problematic
property assets to discourage competitors
individuals.
from infringement, and make you less likely to
• Bar all weapons from your facility and make
infringe on the IP rights of other companies.
it clear that employee areas are subject to
http://azlink.com/lawyers/riskreduction.html
employer searches.
• Few standard insurance policies protect
• Train supervisors to recognize the signs of
businesses from loss or damage to their
potential workplace violence; outline a clear
intellectual property. Consider purchasing a
reporting chain; spell out how managers are
specialty policy aimed specifically at intellectual
to respond to those reports; and outline steps
property protection. for safeguarding co-workers and managers
28 ThinkBusiness Click Here for Table of Contents April 2009 29
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