Steps of the Corrective Action Plan (CAP)?

What are the Steps of the Corre Active Plan (CAP)?

A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) as the name indicates, is something that an organization adopts to correct the issues arising internally and externally. These issues are identified through an audit, due to accident, during an inspection, or due to any legal action taken by the local authorities. Internal audits are done by the organization and help in identifying if the organization's work procedures are lacking any important element which is the reason behind arising issues.

To address these issues, an organization prepares and implements a corrective action plan so that these issues are corrected and the organization's operations run smoothly. Development and communication of the corrective action plan matters. If the corrective action plan is not developed as per requirement, the issues will not be addressed but further issues take birth.

What is a Corrective Action Plan (CAP)? - A Short Summary.

A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is a set of steps devised to address the issues identified through inspection, internal audit, and correct them to fill the gaps in an organization's working procedures. Once an organization identifies any concern in its operation procedures, it must be corrected immediately through a corrective action plan to prevent any loss.

The important thing to remember is that corrective action plans are implemented if there is an accident, or any machinery has been found out of order. Corrective Action Plans also help organizations to stay focused on employees' concerns and demonstrate leadership commitment.

Development of a Corrective Action Plan (CAP).

A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) should be prepared by a competent, experienced, and skilled person with work activity knowledge. The corrective action plan will be effective only if SMART goals are part of it.

Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Steps

1. Process Examination

Process examination is mandatory before devising a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to ensure the concerned person is responsible for the corrective action plan development. If the irregularities are detected during an audit, the concerned person will already have an idea of what is the real problem and if not, the concerned person has to go through the working process and examine it to identify the real problem.

2. Planning Corrective Actions

As the root problems have been issued, what is need to be done to correct these problems, is needed to be planned, so that the identified issue is prevented from reappearing in the future. If the equipment is broken, faulty, or outdated, it will be repaired and replaced. If there is a gap in contractor or employee knowledge and skills, he/she will undergo a training session.

The planned Corrective Action Plan (CAP) should be SMART, clearly outlined, and understood with the goal of having a measurably safer outcome.

3. Timeline

Allocate the timescale to each task for achieving. Each task is different from others, so different time scales can be allocated. Safety-related issues should be rectified on an urgent basis.

4. Assigning Responsibilities

To ensure the Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is effectively implemented, responsibilities should be allocated to the workers/ management personnel to ensure they are achieving the goal assigned to them, sharing the progress with the management, and making changes if directed or required. A competent person with relevant knowledge should be selected for working on the assigned goal.

Assigning responsibilities also give an idea of;

1. How far you are from the intended target?
2. How far-reaching your Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is?
3. Who it will impact?
4. Does team members need to undergo additional training to achieve their goal?

5. Monitor and Adjust

With the passage of time and implementation of the early stages of a Corrective Action Plan (CAP), monitor its impact. If the problem persists, more time can be required to achieve the target or a whole new approach is needed.

When implementing the Corrective Action Plan (CAP), ensure the performance is being monitored and if needed, adjustments are being made accordingly. Improving aspects should be labeled as Green Flag, and areas where problems are persistent, procedures are inefficient, and no improvement is expected should be labeled as Red Flag.

Final Thoughts

A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is developed and implemented for Problems Correction instead of creating further problems. During the Corrective Action Plan implementation, Regulations compliance is mandatory.