An incident is a situation where some kind of harm occurs (or could
occur); a nonconformity is defined as “non-fulfillment of a
requirement”. There is often a relationship between the two – but not
always.
Similarly, correction and corrective action are NOT the same.
These are defined terms that have been taken from the quality world
and applied to EHS management systems. They are also an entrenched part
of registration audits so it is important to understand how registrars
define them (i.e. their ISO 9000 definitions). When registrars issue
corrective action requests (CARs), they often request information on any
corrections done as well as a description of the corrective action
planned.
A correction is defined as “action to eliminate a
detected nonconformity”. In the quality world, correction is often
referred to as containment (as in preventing nonconforming product from
reaching the customer). Correction in a QMS can consist of repair,
rework, scrapping the product, etc. The first action taken is often
segregation and control of non-conforming product.
This quality concept was incorporated into ISO 14001 as correction
and mitigation – as in taking action to mitigate environmental impacts
(see Section 4.5.3 a). The same concept was also incorporated into
OHSAS 18001 as correction and mitigation – as in taking action to
mitigate OH&S consequences (see Section 4.5.3.2 a).
In all the standards, the focus of correction is on the immediate fix.
A corrective action is defined as “action to
eliminate the cause of a detected nonconformity or other undesirable
situation.” A note to this definition in ISO 9000 states that “there is a
distinction between correction and corrective action.” The distinction
is the focus. In corrective action, the focus is on what CAUSED the
nonconformity.
Since the focus of corrective action is on causation, some type of
root cause analysis is a prerequisite to defining the appropriate
corrective action.
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