Expert: Don’t Let eMails Derail Proactive Recall Plans

Although manufacturers may not anticipate conducting a recall, companies should take a proactive approach to make sure they are recall-ready, an expert advises.

Speaking at an FDAnews audioconference, James Wood, partner at Reed Smith, cautioned firms to be careful that emails sent during a crisis do not derail proactive plans and place the company back in a reactive mode.

Wood said emails have been the undoing of many companies in FDA regulatory procedures, product liability cases and litigation brought by the SEC and attorneys general.

He added that too often in recalls, companies act in a reactive rather than proactive mode.

To avoid this, he advised companies to have an email policy as an integral part of their recall plans. One critical component of a proactive recall planning manual is an example of a “bulletproof email,” he said, which “in any time of crisis has these words: Call me please.”