Requesting a Certificate of Insurance from suppliers

I have updated my Supplier Approval Program and am in the process of collecting updated documents from all of my suppliers.  (We have about 300 raw materials and 50+ suppliers.)

I have requested what I believe to be standard food safety documents:

Hi,

If your manufacturing Halaal Products ,ask supplier to provide Halaal Certificate as well.

Similar to Glenn, I don't often get asked for this, but you could always just ask for confirmation of policy no. and associated limits of liability?

What relation does this certificate have to food safety?

What relation does this certificate have to food safety?

I always assumed it was more of a supply chain assurance. If my supplier can't be relied upon to maintain required levels of insurance, can they be relied upon to be an important cog in my logistics chain?

I typically have to provide copies of mine to my customers as well.

I also kind of inferred that it would show if there was a supplier driven recall, the customer wouldn't just belly up and leave me with the bill.

But that's assumption and inference, might not be accurate.

I always assumed it was more of a supply chain assurance. If my supplier can't be relied upon to maintain required levels of insurance, can they be relied upon to be an important cog in my logistics chain?

I typically have to provide copies of mine to my customers as well.

 

I also kind of inferred that it would show if there was a supplier driven recall, the customer wouldn't just belly up and leave me with the bill.

 

But that's assumption and inference, might not be accurate.

This is my understanding as well and I also have customers request this as part of their supplier approval.  We even have some customers who set minimums of coverage that they require.

I've just had a different representative from the supplier that initially denied my request offer to send me a certificate of insurance.  So I guess my problem is solved, but it is an interesting topic of conversation.

We used to ask for this as part of our vendor approval process but it served no purpose as its not related in anyway to food safety/quality. It was in place at one stage as we did have a vendor that had no insurance and a claim was made - small - but not insignificant to their business.

I'd be thinking any finance provider to a business would also insist on them having insurance, if they can't cover a claim, they go bust and the financier won't want that. Like home loan and car financiers, they always ask for a copy of your insurance policy when you first take out the loan. (well in my case they do) 

So we've stopped keeping the certificates and we're removing the question from our questionnaire. We've never been asked for a copy of our vendors insurance certificate from any auditor. Certainly not a BRC requirement. You could have it as part of your approval program but what value is it adding to the approval process?

We leave the insurance side up to our procurement team, it's included as a requirement in supply contracts , i.e. they must have liability insurance in place. 

I always assumed it was more of a supply chain assurance. If my supplier can't be relied upon to maintain required levels of insurance, can they be relied upon to be an important cog in my logistics chain?

I typically have to provide copies of mine to my customers as well.

 

I also kind of inferred that it would show if there was a supplier driven recall, the customer wouldn't just belly up and leave me with the bill.

 

But that's assumption and inference, might not be accurate.

Hey Tim,

recently one of my ingredient suppliers asked for our insurance certificate. I am not sure what is that or why they need it. can you explain that please?

i know we usually gets liability insurance from our supplier which states our company name as insured on it. not sure what the other one is. 

I require it as a condition of supplier approval.

If your supplier does not have liability insurance, and they send you a defective product that causes you to undergo a rather expensive recall, you might want to get some of that money back.

Really a moot point, as pretty much everyone has this.

Marshall

I've always requested this, as it was part of our approved supplier program when I first started in the food industry in *gasp* 2005...

I just had a customer come back and ask what our coverage requirements were, and neither my Director of Operations, nor Vice President, but who have been with my current company for over 20 years, seems to have any idea.  I've been back with this company for... 6 weeks.

My initial question was, "huh?"

Followed by, "haven't you always required your suppliers of raw and RTE seafood products to have proof of liability insurance?
Followed by, "huh?"

I haven't heard back yet.

I require suppliers to provide a Certificate of Liability Insurance with our company listed as a certificate holder on the document. This document is proof that if the supplier has a recall and you have used items provided by them to make your product, their insurance would cover your loss due to their recalled item. This coupled with an LOG covers you further if they have a major issue. 

Hope this helps :) 

I require suppliers to provide a Certificate of Liability Insurance with our company listed as a certificate holder on the document. This document is proof that if the supplier has a recall and you have used items provided by them to make your product, their insurance would cover your loss due to their recalled item. This coupled with an LOG covers you further if they have a major issue. 

 

Hope this helps :) 

 

Having had extensive experience in risk/insurance in both food industry and hotel industry a general Liability coverage certificate must show what it covers - there is specific recall insurance available and while a supplier could provide a certificate with your company name on it that would require that your company also pay for it.

 

I have never seen a liability certificate in general that covered recall expenses for the customer.

 

Have you ever filed a claimed for recall expenses against a supplier based on a general LCC?

 

Just curious.