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A CHECKLIST THAT HELPS YOU TAKE OFF
Why a Checklist Matters (and Why Manufacturers Still Get Caught Out)
Most plastics businesses don’t “buy insurance” — they build a protection plan around contracts, assets, people and uptime. The difficulty is that insurance programmes are often assembled over time: a liability policy here, a property policy there, an engineering section added later. That’s when gaps appear. A claim then exposes missing cover, underinsured values or unrealistic downtime assumptions.
This checklist is designed to help you pressure-test your cover before renewal and to make sure insurers can underwrite you fairly. It focuses on what actually drives losses in plastic manufacturing: third-party injury/property damage, product failures and recalls, fire load and heat exposure, machinery breakdown, tooling bottlenecks and business interruption.
Use it as a self-audit, or call Insure24 and we’ll walk through it with you and turn it into a clean submission to insurers.
1) Liability Checklist (Public, Products & Employers’ Liability)
Liability claims are often high-severity and high-friction: they can trigger legal disputes, customer conflict and reputational impact. For plastics businesses, the biggest mistakes are (a) mismatched limits against contracts, (b) unclear territory (especially exports), and (c) assuming one liability section covers everything. Public liability and products liability are different, and employers’ liability is a legal requirement in most cases.
Public & Third-Party Liability
- Confirm the limit of indemnity meets landlord, customer and tender requirements (commonly £2m/£5m/£10m+).
- Check the territorial scope matches your activities (UK only vs Europe/worldwide; off-site work/trade shows).
- Review contractor exposure: inductions, permits-to-work (hot work), and evidence of contractors’ insurance.
- Confirm how the policy treats third-party property in your care/custody/control (goods, customer tools, vehicles).
- Check whether defence costs are “in addition to” the limit or included within it (varies by wording).
- Review deductibles for property damage claims (often the most frequent third-party claim type).
Products Liability & Recall
- Confirm products liability is included and that your product descriptions are accurate and not overly vague.
- Check territories supplied, especially any US/Canada exposure (often material for rating and wording).
- Review whether you need recall/withdrawal cover (often separate from products liability).
- If recall cover exists, confirm the trigger (actual defect vs suspected defect) and cost categories.
- Identify any contractual penalties / pure financial loss exposures that may be uninsurable.
- Ensure you can produce a traceability explanation (how fast you can isolate affected lots/customers).
Employers’ Liability
Employers’ liability is essential where you employ staff. Beyond the legal minimum expectations, insurers will look at your workplace safety culture, training, and risk assessments — especially around manual handling, machinery guarding, slips/trips, and heat/process hazards.
- Confirm EL limit meets expectations (many programmes run at £10m or more).
- Review safety documentation: risk assessments, training records, incident reporting and improvements made.
- Check any labour-only subcontractor exposures and how they are treated.
2) Property, Stock & Fire Load Checklist
Plastics risks can be “severity-led.” Fire load, packaging, racking and process heat can drive large property and stock losses. The biggest checklist item here is accuracy: correct sums insured and realistic stock peaks. The second is protection: fire detection, suppression and segregation controls that insurers care about.
Values and Sums Insured
- Buildings sum insured reflects full rebuild cost (not market value), including professional fees and demolition.
- Plant/machinery values include electrics, controls, ancillaries and installation costs.
- Stock values reflect peak levels for raw materials, WIP and finished goods (seasonality matters).
- Check sub-limits for tools/dies/moulds and high-value items.
- Confirm cover for goods in the open or yard storage if relevant (often restricted).
Fire Risk and Protection
- Document fire detection and alarm type, testing and maintenance records.
- If sprinklers exist, confirm design suitability for storage height/type and impairment procedures.
- Review housekeeping: waste removal frequency, polymer dust/fines management, and packaging segregation.
- Map storage: racking heights, aisle widths, separation of packaging/raw materials from heat sources.
- Confirm hot work permit controls and contractor supervision.
- Check any policy conditions/warranties about fire protection maintenance and compliance.
3) Machinery Breakdown, Utilities & Critical Plant Checklist
Breakdown is both a repair cost problem and a downtime problem. For plastics, critical dependencies often include compressors, chillers, dryers, temperature control units, robotics, electrical panels and control systems. If a single failure can stop multiple lines, you have a concentration risk.
Engineering / Breakdown Cover
- Identify critical machines and whether they are included in breakdown cover (where arranged).
- Check whether cover includes electrics/controls and whether there is a BI following breakdown option (where available).
- Review maintenance approach: planned maintenance, spares strategy and inspection routines.
- Confirm deductible/excess levels and how claims are adjusted for part replacement vs repair.
Utilities and Dependencies
- List single points of failure: one compressor, one chiller, one electrical room, one server/control system.
- Review backup plans: redundancy, hire options, vendor SLAs and critical spares.
- Confirm whether service interruptions are insured (often limited and wording-specific).
- Document shutdown and restart procedures to reduce damage after outages.
4) Tooling, Customer Property & Supply Chain Checklist
Tooling is often the true production constraint. The checklist here is about governance and clarity: who owns the tool, where it is, what it’s worth, and how quickly you can recover if it is damaged. It also covers customer property exposures and transit.
Tooling Governance
- Maintain a tooling register: owner, serial/ID, location, value and which programme it supports.
- Identify your highest-value tools and whether they are scheduled or within sub-limits.
- Document handling procedures and lifting equipment used for changeovers.
- Clarify maintenance and condition checks; capture root cause after any crash/damage event.
Customer Property and Transit
- Confirm how customer-owned tools or goods are insured in your custody (property vs legal liability structure).
- If tools are moved, confirm transit cover and security requirements.
- Review contract clauses that shift tooling responsibility to you and identify any uninsurable penalties.
- Plan alternative capacity or expediting routes for critical programmes.
5) Business Interruption (BI) Checklist: The “Do We Survive?” Section
Business interruption is the cover that protects your ability to keep operating after a major loss. The most common BI issue is not “missing cover” — it is wrong numbers (gross profit miscalculated) or wrong time (indemnity period too short). Plastics claims can have long recovery tails due to electrics, tooling lead times, customer approvals and ramp-up time.
BI Figures and Time
- Confirm gross profit basis and whether it matches your accounts and business model.
- Choose an indemnity period that reflects long lead-time plant, electrics, clean-down and ramp-up.
- Consider dependencies: key customers, key suppliers and critical utilities.
- Check increased cost of working cover and whether it supports expediting and outsourcing (wording dependent).
Downtime Planning
- List your critical bottlenecks: single tools, single machines, single utilities.
- Document “Plan B” capacity: outsourcing, other sites, alternate tooling and buffer stock strategy.
- Identify what customers require during disruption (communications, containment plans, recovery dates).
- Review cyber and IT resilience if production depends on control systems and scheduling platforms.
“The checklist exposed two silent gaps: our stock peaks weren’t declared, and our BI indemnity period was too short for a realistic recovery. Fixing those changed how insurers viewed us.”
Finance Director, Plastics ManufacturerUse the Checklist as a Renewal Health Check
If you want the quickest improvement in terms and certainty, focus on three things: (1) accurate values and stock peaks, (2) realistic downtime planning and BI indemnity periods, and (3) clear product descriptions, territories and recall expectations.
Insure24 can take your answers and turn them into an underwriting-ready submission that helps insurers price your risk based on evidence rather than assumptions.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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What insurance do most plastic manufacturers need?
Most need employers’ liability, public liability and products liability, plus property and business interruption cover for premises, plant and stock.
Many also consider machinery breakdown, tooling cover, goods in transit and product recall/withdrawal options depending on contracts and end-use.
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How do I know if my sums insured are correct?
Buildings should be insured for full rebuild cost (not market value). Plant and machinery should reflect replacement including installation and electrics/controls.
Stock should reflect peak levels, not average levels. If you’re unsure, we can help you review valuations and stock seasonality to reduce underinsurance risk.
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Why do insurers care so much about fire protection on plastics sites?
Plastics sites can have high fire load due to polymers, packaging and storage density, with process heat and electrical demand as potential ignition sources.
Fire protection, housekeeping and segregation influence how severe a loss could be, which affects pricing and insurer appetite.
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What is the most common business interruption mistake?
Choosing an indemnity period that’s too short. Recovery can take longer than expected due to long lead-time equipment, electrical replacement, tooling repair, customer approvals and ramp-up time.
A realistic BI period and correct gross profit calculation are essential.
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Do we need product recall insurance if we only supply components?
Many component suppliers do, especially in automotive and regulated supply chains. Even if the part is low cost, the logistics and sorting costs can be high,
and customers may require immediate containment and withdrawal actions. Recall/withdrawal cover is often separate from products liability and wording varies.
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How can we get better insurance terms at renewal?
Provide clear, underwriting-ready information: accurate values, stock peaks, BI figures and indemnity period; clear product descriptions and territories; evidence of fire protection and housekeeping; and documented maintenance, contractor controls and traceability.
Reducing uncertainty often improves insurer confidence and pricing.