Get Tough on Corrective Actions

Dec. 28, 2010 - PRLog -- Do you seem to be reporting some of the same nonconformities from audit to audit? Isn’t that frustrating? Why isn’t the auditee fixing the problems? It may be partly your fault. Accepting weak corrective actions will lead to repeat nonconformities. Auditors must get tough when evaluating corrective actions. If the action only fixes the problem and doesn’t remove the cause, don’t accept it. If you accept a weak solution, you’ll end up writing the same nonconformity in the future.

Why are organizations having a hard time taking effective corrective action? It may be they don’t understand how to perform root cause analysis. Or, it might be they simply view a request for corrective action as a distraction to be quickly dismissed so they can get back to work.

A common mistake is for the auditee is to say the root cause was “human error”. As a result, they attempt to correct the guilty person’s behavior instead of eliminating the real root cause. Unfortunately, auditors often compound the issue by attempting to conduct the follow-up audit too soon.

This session reviews the differences between containment, correction, corrective action, and preventive action. Common issues are identified and auditors are told to get tough on corrective actions. They must reject weak responses. If not, they’ll repeatedly report the same or closely related nonconformity.

Areas Covered in the Seminar:
•   Repeated Nonconformities
•   Cause Really Human Error?
•   The Auditor Role
•   Corrective Action
•   Corrective Action Request
•   Corrective Action Process
•   Appropriate Action
•   Correction vs. Corrective Action
•   Correction Example
•   Requirements for Correction
•   Related Terms
•   Correction Types
•   Corrective Action vs. Preventive Action
•   Audit Example
•   Problem Solving
•   Conclusion

To enroll, go to: http://www.complianceonline.com/ecommerce/control/trainin...

Instructor Profile:   
Larry Whittington, is president of Whittington & Associates, training, consulting, and auditing company founded in 1993 and located in Woodstock, Georgia. He is an RABQSA certified Lead Auditor and IRCA Principal Auditor, as well as, ASQ certified Quality Auditor and ASQ certified Software Quality Engineer.

Larry has developed requirements, implementation, documentation, and auditing courses used by multiple training firms, and has taught hundreds of classes to thousands of students. His free monthly e-Newsletter on quality and auditing topics has been published for more than ten years and is read by thousands of subscribers.

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Training, consulting, and auditing of management systems based on ISO 9001, AS9100, TL 9000, ISO/TS 16949, ISO 13485, ISO 27001, and ISO 20000.