IQC Blog The difference between "correction" and "corrective action"...

ISO 9001:2015, 9.2.2 e (Internal audit) speaks of "correction" and "corrective action." What is the difference? A correction is the action taken to perform an immediate fix of the most obvious problem to remove the nonconformity and make the product or service acceptable to use. This will take very little investigation to find and is a quick fix for this one-time problem. However, it does not take action to preclude the problem from reoccurring.If the audit has identified that a problem is more serious than one simple non-conformance, the organization will need to implement corrective action to prevent the problem from happening again. In that case, the organization will need to use a systematic process to ensure the root cause is identified and removed. This can be 6-Step Problem Solving. In a corrective action process, it is critical that the organization does not just fix the surface causes. Instead, the organization needs to look deeper into the cause of the problem to find the root cause so it can be eliminated.Only when the organization finds and corrects the root cause of a problem will it truly ensure that the nonconformance does not happen again.