Glycol – A Unique Risk to Raise with Your Clients
For brokers servicing clients in the food and beverage sector, understanding the operational role of glycol (more specifically food‑grade propylene glycol) is a unique way of showing you have an in-depth understanding of the wide range of risks that could be faced by your clients. Glycol is widely used due to its low toxicity, chemical stability, and suitability for food‑adjacent environments, making it the preferred option over other more hazardous chemicals.
Why Glycol Matters to Your Clients’ Operations
Clients rely on glycol as a secondary refrigerant in chilled-water and brine loops, where it functions by lowering the freezing point of system fluids. This enables refrigeration plants to operate safely at sub‑zero temperatures—critical for fermentation control, pasteurisation cooling, cold-chain integrity, and other temperature‑sensitive processes. Breweries, dairies, wineries and beverage processors depend heavily on stable glycol systems for product consistency and compliance.
An Emerging Risk Area: Theft and Unauthorised Removal
A less obvious but growing concern for underwriters and risk managers is the theft of glycol from industrial sites. Because glycol is often stored in drums or IBCs that are easily moved—and because stock levels fluctuate due to normal system maintenance—unauthorised removal can be difficult for operators to detect. The rise of informal markets that can use food grade glycol, including unregulated vape‑liquid manufacturing, can present an attractive source of revenue despite significant safety and legal implications.
Implications for Brokers and Underwriting Conversations
Brokers should consider raising glycol‑related risk controls with their clients during site surveys, renewal discussions, and pre‑underwriting reviews. Glycol mismanagement or theft can link to several insurance categories including property, liability, business interruption, and crime/theft exposures.
Recommended Controls for Clients
Strong site security controls significantly reduce both operational and insurance risk. Best‑practice measures include locked and/or access‑controlled chemical storage areas; strong perimeter security; documented chemical handling and transfer procedures; contractor supervision; CCTV coverage; and routine inventory reconciliation and record‑keeping.
In any case, raising this unique risk with your clients will show that you have the finger on the pulse, and help build the level of trust they have with you.
Feel free to reach out to the team to help understand how glycol could be a risk for your client’s facilities.
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