Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 9 July 2026
Manufacturers carry director-level exposure that stretches from workplace safety through product recall to corporate manslaughter. This entry sets out where D&O responds to those exposures, how HSE prosecutions attach to named individuals, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 framework for senior management failure, and the wording features that matter for a manufacturing D&O programme alongside product liability, product recall and employers’ liability cover.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies to the employer, but sections 37 and 7 reach through to individuals. Section 37 exposes directors, managers, company secretaries and similar officers to personal prosecution where an offence by the corporate body is proved to have been committed with their consent, connivance or attributable to their neglect. Section 7 imposes duties on every employee, including senior officers. HSE prosecutions of individuals are pursued in the Magistrates’ and Crown Courts, and a conviction can carry an unlimited fine and a custodial sentence.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 targets the organisation, not the individual, but Directors’ Disqualification proceedings under the CDDA 1986 travel with the person, and the Companies Act 2006 general duties (sections 171-177) remain fully engaged. Product recall and product liability exposure translates into shareholder actions where a recall was mishandled, disclosure was inadequate, or the company’s value fell materially. Consumer Protection Act 1987 Part I attaches to producers.
Side A covers the individual director when the company cannot or will not indemnify. Side B reimburses the company for indemnifying its directors under section 234 QTPIP arrangements. Side C responds to securities claims for listed manufacturers. Extensions worth attention include pre-claim investigation costs (HSE and Environment Agency investigations), employment practices liability, outside directorship, and specific extensions for regulatory enquiry costs before a formal charge is laid.
Deliberate dishonesty, fraud and improper personal profit are excluded once established by final adjudication. Prior known circumstances — anything the board knew about a defective product, safety incident or regulator approach before inception — are excluded. Bodily injury and property damage sit on product liability, public liability and employers’ liability policies (a D&O tower does not pay a claimant’s compensation for a product injury). Fines and penalties that are not insurable as a matter of English public policy fall outside cover. Claims by one insured against another are excluded save for standard carve-outs.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 — section 2 (duty to employees), section 3 (duty to persons other than employees), section 7 (employee duties), section 37 (director consent, connivance or neglect). Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 — section 1 (offence), section 8 (relevant duty of care). Consumer Protection Act 1987 Part I (product liability), Part II (safety). General Product Safety Regulations 2005. Environmental Protection Act 1990. Environment Act 2021. Companies Act 2006 sections 171-177. Insolvency Act 1986 sections 213-214. Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 section 6. Insurance Act 2015 sections 3, 7 and 8. Bribery Act 2010 sections 7 and 14.
D&O covers the director’s decisions in running the company — how the safety programme was governed, how a recall was executed, how disclosures were made. Product liability and product recall cover respond to third-party bodily injury, property damage or consequential loss caused by a defective product. Where a director is separately named alongside the company in a shareholder or regulator action, D&O picks up the individual defence while product liability picks up the underlying claimant claim. Where a manufacturer also delivers design or engineering services to third parties, PI sits alongside for the professional-services element. A specialist broker aligns the wordings across all three towers.
A precision-engineering business suffers a serious workplace injury when a machine guard defect goes uncorrected after a maintenance flag. The HSE opens an investigation and, following a section 20 inspector interview, indicates that a section 37 charge against the operations director is under consideration alongside the corporate charge. Legal defence of the personal position through the interview under caution, subsequent Magistrates’ Court hearing and any escalation to the Crown Court runs on the director’s D&O cover. Side A responds because the fine and the personal sentencing exposure are not lawfully indemnifiable by the company; Side B reimburses the corporate for legal costs where the two defences run in parallel. Pre-claim investigation costs pick up counsel from the day the section 20 notice arrives.
D&O policies for manufacturers are almost always claims-made. Where a section 20 HSE inspector notice, an Environment Agency enquiry, a serious accident report, a product-recall trigger or a large customer letter of concern lands during a policy year, that circumstance needs to reach the broker before the year ends