Incident, Nonconformity and Corrective Action

Types of health and safety incidents, nonconformities and corrective actions will vary widely depending on the nature of your business and your activities.

Examples of incidents, nonconformities, and corrective actions include:

Incidents:

• Work-related near-miss events,
• Injuries and ill health,
• Exposures to health hazards,
• Occupational diseases,
• Vehicle accidents,
• Property and equipment damage where it can lead to OH&S risks.

Nonconformities:

• Protective equipment not functioning properly,
• Failure to apply legal requirements,
• Specified procedures not being followed.

Corrective actions:

As indicated by the hierarchy of controls.

• Elimination of hazards,
• Substitution to safe materials,
• Design or modification to equipment or tools,
• Development of procedures,
• Improving the competence of affected workers,
• Changes in frequency of use,
• Personal protective equipment.

Root Cause:

Root cause analysis refers to the practice of exploring all the possible factors associated with an incident by asking what happened and why it happened, to provide the input for what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

For more information, read Root cause analysis.

Actions Required

When an incident or a nonconformity occurs, your organization must:

• React without delay to the incident or nonconformity, and take direct action to control and correct it and deal with the consequences,
• Evaluate, with the participation of workers and the involvement of other interested parties, the need for corrective action to eliminate the root cause of the incident or nonconformity, so that it does not recur or occur elsewhere, by:
  • reviewing the incident or nonconformity,
  • determining the causes of the incident or nonconformity,
  • determining if similar incidents or nonconformities exist or could potentially occur,
• Review the assessment of OH&S risks.
• Determine and implement any action needed, including corrective action, in accordance with the hierarchy of controls and the management of change.
• Measure Health and Safety Performance
• Assess OH&S risks related to changed or new hazards before taking action,
• Review the effectiveness of any corrective action taken,
• Make changes to the OH&S management system and documented information.

Please note that certain text from the ISO 45001 standard is only used for instructional purposes. Standard Stores recognizes and respects the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) copyright and intellectual property guidelines.