Business processes are never static, even if your enterprise holds ISO Certification. In fact, the main operational advantage of being certified to any of the ISO Standards is being able to sustainably improve your operational processes with the support of ISO standard frameworks.
But what happens if your processes don’t change? In some cases, your operations may continue on (i.e. business as usual), but in others, the staticity of your procedures and processes may pave the way for operational issues down the road. These issues can then snowball into non-conformities, which may affect your company’s ISO compliance.
The good news is that ISO standard frameworks have taken the potential for non-conformities into account, providing tailored guidelines on how organisations can address these issues as they arise. Under the ISO standards frameworks, these measures to address non-conformities are referred to as ‘corrective actions’.
Today, our ISO consultants here at S&J Auditing & Consulting will dive deeper into corrective actions and their procedures, outlining why corrective actions can actually be beneficial for your organisation over the long term, and how you and your staff can efficiently rectify any non-conformities that may pop up over time.
What are corrective actions?
Corrective actions refer to any steps taken to fix an operational problem or identified ISO non-conformance.
Unlike proactive actions like preventative maintenance, corrective actions take place after an issue has been identified. This makes corrective actions reactive by nature.
| Type | Definition | Objective | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preventative Maintenance | Maintenance that is scheduled routinely. | Avoiding unplanned downtime. | Regular inspections and equipment servicing. |
| Preventative Action | Proactive measures taken to prevent potential risks. | Mitigating risks pre-emptively. | Process improvements and equipment/system upgrades. |
| Corrective Action | Reactive measures to correct risks after their impact. | Resolving issues post-event. | Correcting non-conformances and repairing faulty or broken equipment/systems. |
Key objectives for corrective action procedures
Although corrective actions are reactionary, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they can be avoided by process monitoring. In some cases, non-conformities can be so subtle that your organisation wouldn’t have picked up on them if it weren’t for your annual ISO audits.
Remember too that the main objective of corrective actions is not only to rectify non-conformities, but also to make sure that they don’t happen again. This focus on long-term optimisation and improvements is what makes corrective action procedures just as important and high-value for your organisation as preventive actions.
To recap, here are additional objectives to corrective action procedures outside of simply addressing non-conformities:
Improving workplace efficiency and safety
In best case scenarios, the only danger that non-conformities provide to your organisation are risks to your ISO compliance. The early detection of non-conformances that’s made possible by 3rd party or internal audits, and subsequent non-conformance reporting helps ensure these minor operational issues are addressed before they spiral out of control and pose real threats to your workplace health and safety, environmental protection or quality of products and services.
Establishing systematic approaches
By following ISO guidelines, corrective action procedures can maintain a similarly systematic approach to your preventive action processes as well as ISO auditing processes. This systematic approach to addressing corrective actions ensures that fewer details go missed, which ultimately means your strategised actions address all operational risks thoroughly, reducing the likelihood of recurring issues.
Focus on incident prevention
Providing whole systems solutions means not only addressing ISO non-conformities, but also reducing the risks of them re-occurring. With a robust approach to corrective action procedures, your organisation will ultimately be better positioned to stay ISO compliant over the long term.
What do corrective actions look like? – Common examples
Corrective action processes are outlined in all the ISO Certification Standards, from ISO 9001:2015 for Quality Management Systems as well as ISO 45001:2018 for OH&S Management Systems. However, corrective actions can differ based on the ISO frameworks you’re implementing, so corrective action strategies within a QMS may look different, for instance, than those used in an OH&S Management System or even in an ISO 14001:2015 Certified Environmental Management System.
Here are just some of the more common examples of corrective actions that can be observed and implemented across the core ISO Standards:
Employee training
If non-conformities are arising due to staff mistakes, employee training initiatives can help improve the knowledge gaps and reduce risks of these ‘human error’ non-conformances. Employee training relating to ISO processes can be developed in tandem with support from external ISO consultants.
Equipment maintenance and repairs
Sometimes, non-conformances aren’t always a result of human error, but rather mechanical faults. In these instances, equipment maintenance and repairs can be implemented to ensure a more efficient and safer workplace, hardware, machinery, and infrastructure.
Process improvements
One of the major benefits of securing ISO Certification for your business is being able to sustainably develop process improvements by maintaining a systematic approach (i.e. following the PDCA Cycle). Process improvements can result from initiatives led by departments or team members and raised to management reviews from there, or can be developed in response to regularly scheduled 3rd party or internal audits and their resulting audit reports.
Corrective Action Step-By-Step: How to correct non-conformities
We’ve looked into the what and the why so far but have only just dipped our toes into the ‘how’ of it all. Thankfully, our ISO consultants here at S&J Auditing & Consulting have compiled this definitive 5-step process for corrective actions, which we’ve shared below.
This 5-step process for corrective actions can be applied to any ISO frameworks, so you can use them to maintain compliance across ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, and other types of ISO Management Systems.
Step 1: Identify the issue/non-conformity
Start by recognising and documenting the non-conformity upon detection, by internal personnel.
Step 2: Conduct a root cause analysis
Investigate further to better understand the underlying causes of the identified issue. Findings from your root cause analysis can be provided to business leaders and other relevant personnel and stakeholders in the form of a root cause analysis statements and reports.
Step 3: Develop and implement corrective action strategies
Using the root cause analysis statements and reports, business leaders and relevant staff can develop focus-driven corrective action strategies. These strategies can be recommended and then implemented following approval.
Step 4: Monitor the effectiveness of implemented corrective actions
ISO frameworks advocate for monitoring process improvement initiatives. This includes any process improvements pitched as a component of corrective action strategising.
With detailed monitoring and performance reporting, organisations can gauge the efficacy of process improvements resulting from corrective actions to formally integrate these new processes into their Management Systems or to initiate further improvements if they’re needed.
Step 5: Update policies, procedures, and processes
If process improvements have been successfully implemented and monitoring has generated positive results, business leaders can then formally integrate these updated processes into their existing ISO policies, processes and procedures. This final stage is how corrective action strategies also support continuous process improvements, empowering organisations in maintaining ISO compliance over the long term.
Safeguard your ISO compliance with focused corrective action procedures
Non-conformities are a natural occurrence not only in the process of attaining Certification but also in maintaining ongoing ISO compliance. With a focus-driven approach that prioritises prevention of recurring issues, corrective action strategising can elevate your ISO Management Systems, pioneering continuous process improvements and ensuring your business operations become dynamic and evolving rather than remaining static.
If you’d like to strengthen your organisation’s corrective action planning, our ISO consultants at S&J Auditing & Consulting can offer their expert assistance. Our consultants can work in collaboration with your internal personnel to ensure the strongest possible outcome from developing and implementing your corrective action procedures.
Get in touch with our ISO consultants to book your consultation today.
