Preventive Action
While there have been tons of discussion between CA and PA, I have not seen anything that can help with writing a PA procedure. There are a lot of opinons as to what it is, some very argumentative, but nothing as concrete as a sample download for study. Even the Premium Files here at the Cove touch very lightly on the subject. I want to combine the two because I do not believe an auditor has the absolute proof that what I call Preventive is actually Corrective, or vice versa. My interviews with potential Registrars deliberately asked for what would be the difference. I came away with the feeling that only here in these discussions do we see such insistance that they are totally different. It's a gray area. There are those that say if I have a corrective action for one thing and I look at all different product for the potential of that thing, it is merely an extension of my original corrective action. Then there are those that say Management Review can be classified as preventive action because we look at trends and define actions. Quite honestly, I do not know conclusively what is a Preventive Action. Here's my thought: I go out into the manufacturing areas and look around and invent a preventive action to satisfy that clause. Like, I recommend that all the toolboxes have new wheels put on them because a worn wheel may cause a tool box to tip over and damage personnel or product. I look at the ceiling and have someone inspect it to make sure all the corners and joints are sound. I could do that all day long. All good manufacturing practices are Preventive in nature and I find it difficult to take this clause as something new. If one were to list all the things a company does, a case can be made that they are mostly Preventive. Now, let's mention effectiveness. Well, the roof stayed on, toolboxes remained upright, etc.. Things never happened so we must be effective. When they do, we have Corrective action. Egads.