The Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) management tool is intended to identify, resolve, and avoid violations of safety codes that could lead to serious harm. These violations, also referred to as nonconformities, are identified by internal audits, management reviews, statistical process control charts, quality inspection, or costumer complaints. To correct these defects, there are a few steps needed to be taken.
First and foremost, the company must be aware of the problem. If you refuse to address 
your company’s problems, there is no way to improve. Conduct a root cause analysis and ask the following questions: Why is it occurring? What is the magnitude of the problem? What is the scope of the issue? Who is involved?
Following this, your company must:
- Establish and implement corrective actions that address not only the pressing issue but its root cause
- Communicate the action plan to similar divisions
- Investigate related gaps in quality management systems to reduce defects
- Validate the corrective plan through statistical control, and monitor all processes to catch any nonconformities.
To prevent further occurrences, companies must shift from a reactive to a proactive safety strategy. The CAPA process streamlines processes like notifications of emerging issues, approving corrective or preventive actions, and communication of issues and resolutions at a high corporate level. When data trend analysis is coupled with the ability to better assess problems, companies can make a significant improvement to their accident prevention programs by using CAPA management.
