Developing Successful Corrective Actions
2025, May 01
Every team wants to develop successful corrective actions, but not every team has the experience or the insights to do so.
Comparing effective and ineffective solutions can help us avoid repeat incidents and implement strong fixes the first time around.
Comparing Unsuccessful & Successful Corrective Actions
Corrective actions often fail because we don’t fully understand the situation or we can’t think outside of the box.
Poor Investigation and Analysis
“I’ve seen something like this before. I know what to do.” “We need to try something, so let’s do this.”
“Let’s just get a move on.”
“We need to take care of this ASAP.”
How often do you hear these phrases when a problem pops up?
While we might be tempted to handle an organizational issue as quickly as possible, corrective actions based on assumptions will always be nothing more than guesswork.
Strong Investigation and Analysis
The first response to an incident should be an investigation. We need an accurate understanding of what happened before deciding how to prevent its reoccurrence.
In TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis, the first step of every investigation is to build a SnapCharT® Diagram. This is a visual diagram of the events and details leading to the incident.
While a SnapCharT® will start fairly simple…
It may develop into something much more detailed:
Once a full timeline is built, we can accurately assess the root causes and establish better corrective actions.
Surface Level Problem-Solving
A solution that fails to address the root causes can soil the investigation.
Too often, teams fall back onto the same few corrective actions:
Training or retraining programs,
Extensions to the guidelines or procedures, or
Disciplinary action for those involved.
While these responses are typical in many industries, they’re more often a formality than a necessary step in the right direction.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking
Instead of telling workers to be more careful around a hazard, take a step back and ask: how can we make the working environment safer?
The Corrective Action Wheel (left) is a simple but versatile human performance tool that ranks the effectiveness of each safeguard (starting at 12 o’clock and moving clockwise):
The safest actions would be to remove, reduce, replace, or relocate the hazard. Automatically preventing, detecting, stopping, or containing the hazard from harming anyone would be the next best choices.
If these aren’t possible or realistic solutions, upgrade the workers’ guards or PPE.
These corrective actions are more committal than a retraining session, but they future-proof the work environment with a safer foundation.
Building Successful Corrective Actions
If you’re interested in learning more about corrective actions, sign up for our interactive course, Successful Corrective Actions Workshop.
Our team will also be available at our booth to discuss any questions you have about corrective actions.