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Corrective Action Report Template

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This Corrective Action Report Template or 'CAR' is free to use and makes completing, sharing, and approving corrective action reports simple and efficient. The template itself is pre-built with ISO 9001 and other quality standards front-of-mind, can be used and edited to suit supplier corrective actions, non conformance corrective actions and even safety corrective actions as well.

Having trouble with corrective action reports? These corrective action reports don't need to be difficult; try this for yourself and see how simple yet powerful it is to do corrective actions with just a few clicks. Unlike basic Word Docs or paper forms, This CAR template is accessible whenever and wherever you like it: on-site or at the office, and is also printable and exportable to PDF at any time.

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What is a Corrective Action Report (CAR)?

A corrective action report outlines the remedial actions necessary to rectify whatever has gone wrong or will likely go wrong as per the current situation during construction.

A CAR can be created by the contractor or demanded by the client. Its contents will differ depending on the observations made and the discrepancies selected for mandatory correction. Here, non-conformity is when a product or service does not conform to a certain specification of the prescribed standards.

Compare this digital Corrective Action Report to Word Doc, Excel, and PDF formats

Preview this Corrective Action Report (CAR) template below and see how it can make a difference to your corrective actions. This provides real-time information and can be accessed anywhere— gone are the manual docs, spreadsheets, and PDFs that could take so much of your time.

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Why do companies need Corrective Action Reports?

No company is perfect, and issues are always bound to happen no matter how they are controlled. When these issues arise, the goal is to provide solutions or corrective actions to make the processes even better.

The Corrective Action Report (CAR) seeks to define the following:

Root causes identified
The first step of doing a corrective action report is to identify those root causes that contribute to defects or the non-conformances. When a problem's root causes are carefully identified, the right solutions or corrective actions will eventually follow.

Corrective actions to eliminate the root causes with an action plan
The next step is to provide the corrective actions that address and eliminate the root causes identified above. These corrective actions can range from simple ones to the most complex ones that require the management's attention.

Verification and validation of corrective actions
The last and most important step is to verify and validate whether the corrective actions implemented are working well to mitigate the root causes of the problems.

What are the critical elements of a Corrective Action Report?

This corrective action report template comes pre-built with all the fields you need to accurately capture the defect or non-conformance quickly so that projects can move forward:

Automated form ID number
Corrective Action Report (CAR) category and current open/closed status
Date identified and organisation issued to dropdown
Description of defect or non-conformance
Reported by the person and digital signature for reporter
Proposed and actual corrective action description
Reviewer digital signoff
Form attachments if needed

How often should we do corrective action reports?

The number of corrective action reports that should be done largely depends on your company's processes, needs, and requirements. There is no definitive number of corrective actions to be reported, but there are considerations when to issue one. Here are the times when a CAR is needed to be done:
1. After non-conformances
In manufacturing settings, a product may show a significant defect or a compliance issue that comes out during audits, inspections, internal reviews, or even customer complaints.
2. Recurring issues or problems
Some problems or issues happen more than once or even repeatedly, and a corrective action report should be issued immediately to prevent recurrence in the future.
3. Findings from regulatory bodies
Nothing beats the eyes of external auditors such as the FDA, ISO, OSHA, and HSE when it comes to nonconformances and issues found that can be counted as violations. A CAR can do the job to rectify these violations and monitor accordingly to keep these from occurring.

Remember, corrective action reports are done as needed whenever these issues arise and not on a fixed schedule. Periodic reviews, such as monthly or quarterly, are also necessary to make sure the corrective actions are effectively implemented.

Should you still be running corrective actions via a Word or Excel template?

Historically, in industries where corrective actions are common, like construction and manufacturing, corrective actions have been documented and then managed via paper forms, Word documents and Excel spreadsheets for tracking. While these methods made sense for a period of time because they were the best technology, those times have changed.

All companies now have access to affordable solutions which dramatically streamline the corrective action process, and basically ensure ISO 9001 and other standard compliance through automated workflows, version control, proper actions tracking and other functionality.

If you haven't explored levelling up your corrective action process beyond Word and/or Excel, then scroll down to see a couple of proven quality management solutions which handle corrective and preventive actions, largely for you.

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This ISO 9001 Corrective Action Report was generated with Dashpivot

Running your corrective actions via a proper quality management system has many advantages:

Add or edit report fields with easy drag-and-drop functionality.
Access and use your CAR report from anywhere - on a laptop, mobile or tablet.
Instantly format your completed progress reports into workflow view or register view.
Set up automated workflows for corrective action reports. Internal and external parties are notified when the CAR requires their digital sign-off.
Download, print, or send your CAR's reports as custom-branded Excel or PDF documents.
Get real-time analytics & insights on corrective action and general quality performance.