Corrective Action Plan Template

Identify areas for improvement and drive up business success with tailored corrective action plan templates.

An employee ensuring that a corrective action plan is being implemented.

Corrective Action Plan Template

This corrective action plan template is designed to help streamline the process of identifying the necessary steps needed to resolve an issue that affects business operations. In addition to providing an organizational framework, you can also use this template to do the following:

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Corrective Action Plan Template

Published 17 May 2024 Article by Gabrielle Cayabyab | 5 min read

What is a Corrective Action Plan Template?

A corrective action plan template is a premade document that outlines an identified problem negatively affecting business operations and incorporates the necessary steps to reach a desired outcome. The template primarily serves as a framework to assist with quality management and helps ensure crucial information is shared seamlessly to avoid future recurrence.

Importance of Using a Template for Corrective Action Plans

Having an effective corrective action plan is essential to quality management, as it is a framework designed to resolve any issues that could hinder business success. By using a template, the overall process of documenting and reporting is easier to oversee and track in real time.

Moreover, using a template for corrective action planning helps in the following ways:

Provides a structured approach

Using a template to structure a corrective action plan makes it more efficient to report and keep the entire business updated on any issues. A template also helps clear any confusion regarding the quality assessment being done to address operational gaps since it is a premade framework that can be easily modified.

Helps identify issues

It is important to thoroughly understand the root causes of problems that significantly affect business processes and other performance-related factors. By using a template for corrective action planning, information is presented more efficiently, making it easier to identify and highlight issues that hinder business success.

Improves risk management

Implementing corrective action is crucial for risk management since it identifies problems and determines the necessary steps needed to avert or minimize risks. A corrective action plan template clearly outlines the objectives for addressing operational problems and provides real-time monitoring of progress to keep your organization in the loop.

Streamlines data collection

Through its digital format, a corrective action template makes it easier to collect data. In reporting issues, employees can take advantage of using media formats such as photos and videos to accurately give context to the situation.

Once a template is filled out with the necessary information, it can be easily shared with involved parties as a Word document, PDF file, Excel spreadsheet, or directly through email.

Encourages accountability and improvement

A corrective action plan template helps promote accountability by supplying a shared framework for raising issues and other essential information found within business operations.

The template also acts as a communication channel, which can be used to inform stakeholders about the status or progress of correction actions being implemented.

What to Include in a Corrective Action Plan Template

Generally, a corrective action plan template should include the following elements:

How to Create a Corrective Action Plan Using a Template

Generally, a corrective action plan can be created to address a variety of issues and incidents within an organization. As such, it’s crucial to create a well-structured and thorough plan to encourage business success and prevent future recurrence of certain issues.

Follow this straightforward guide to help you ensure a corrective action plan can be implemented properly:

  1. Determine the prominent issue/s that need correction and specify how the problem affects business operations.
  2. Investigate the underlying reasons for the problem by applying a root cause analysis. Use strategies such as the “ 5 Whys ” and other similar techniques to gain a better understanding of the issue.
  3. Develop and propose potential solutions to address the identified problems. Use the template to list down the specific steps to ensure these are practical and directly tackle the problem being addressed.
  4. Assign responsibilities to individuals or teams whose expertise aligns with certain corrective actions. Set deadlines and reminders as needed.
  5. Review and update the template as needed to monitor progress and make necessary adjustments based on the progression of the plan.

To give you an example, here’s what a filled-out template looks like as a corrective action sample report:

Corrective Action Plan Template Sample Report

FAQs about Corrective Action Plan Templates

What kinds of issues can a corrective action plan template help address?

A corrective action plan template can be modified to resolve a broad range of issues across different industries. This can range from operational problems like production delays to more administrative concerns such as employee turnover or office management.

Who should be involved in creating and implementing a corrective action plan template?

All key stakeholders across the organization should take part in utilizing a corrective action plan template. While upper management can oversee the overall data and information, employees directly involved with the issue and even affected suppliers can take advantage of the template. This helps ensure a variety of perspectives are seen and considered when resolving the problem at hand.

How often should a corrective action plan template be updated?

The frequency of updates depends on your business goals, organizational needs, and the progression of the corrective action plan. If good progress is being achieved, updates can be made less often. However, it is important to regularly evaluate and review the implementation of the corrective action plan and make necessary adjustments if it is not yielding the desired results.

Easily Create and Manage Corrective Action Plans with SafetyCulture

Why use SafetyCulture?

Optimizing a corrective action plan to ensure business success requires thorough documentation and a structured approach to resolve issues effectively. To save time and streamline implementation, consider going digital with your corrective action plan. Having a digital solution like SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) enables more efficiency with documentation and sharing information to key stakeholders as you resolve root problems within your business.

In addition to this, SafetyCulture can be used to do the following:

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Gabrielle Cayabyab

Article by SafetyCulture Content Specialist

Gabrielle Cayabyab is a content writer and researcher for SafetyCulture. Her academic background in Creative Writing and extensive experience with writing for various types of content allows her to create high-quality articles for a broad range of topics. As a content specialist, her primary goal is to produce timely and purposeful material that advocates for workplace safety and ultimately helps businesses find opportunities to strengthen their operations.

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