Entries by Nathan Ives

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 10 – Everyone Can Submit a Condition Report

Adverse conditions and opportunities for improvement present themselves at unpredictable times and in unexpected places; possibly observed by only a few or one. Furthermore, an organization benefits most when its workforce contributes the full measure of its intellect and creativity. Thus, it is critically important that everyone, including contractors, be able to submit a condition report.

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 9 – Perform Periodic Aggregate Analyses

Condition reports provide detailed information on individual performance deficiencies, operational events, and opportunities for improvement. While such information enables the resolution of specific problems, the aggregate analysis of all condition reports provides insight to the underlying systemic faults the correction of which would prevent recurrence of many of the organization’s issues.

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 8 – Availability of Paper Forms

Adverse conditions and opportunities for improvement present themselves in unexpected places, under unpredictable circumstances, to unsuspecting individuals. While an organization may use a corrective action program supporting application, the system may not be accessible or available to the individual observing the reportable event. To ensure reportable conditions are captured, paper-based condition report forms should be made available throughout the organization’s facilities.

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 7 – Document Reasons for Condition Report Cancellation or Closure

Condition reports requiring no processing past the Identification Phase are either cancelled or closed so to prevent the unnecessary expenditure of the organization’s resources. Reasons for the termination of condition report processing, however, should be well documented so to enable later evaluation of the appropriateness of this action. Furthermore, this documentation enables the initiator feedback necessary to ensure a high level of employee engagement with the corrective action program.

Corrective Action Program Best Practice 6 – Condition Report Causal Codes

Condition reports provide detailed information on the organization’s performance deficiencies, operational events, and opportunities for improvement. That information, however, is typically captured in a voluminous long text format unconducive to the type of aggregate analysis providing insights to the underlying causes and precursor challenges required of proactive management action. Applying standardize, short text causal codes to condition reports helps overcome this analytical challenge.