How to boost preventive action program

One difficult task of many companies is the ability to instill in its employees the mindset of error or problem prevention in order to prevent problems or mistakes from happening and to improve the processes in place. This consequently translates into a low to none ratio of preventive actions against corrective actions issued which may raise an alarm flag that preventive action is weak. So how can a company boost the number of preventive actions and increase awareness in problem prevention and continual improvement?
Internal Audit reports
Depending on the skill level of internal auditors or the format of internal audit program, internal audit reports may contain information that can easily be used as preventive actions.
Typically, internal audit reports do not list preventive actions but corrective actions only. In some cases one may have audit reports that ramble on, and in some cases one may have audit reports that are well structure and where preventive actions can definitely be drawn. If the latter is the case, then go ahead and turn any observation into a preventive action.
If however this is not the case, then one may have to scout the report, to look for observations pointed out in the summary or comments section, where the auditors express their perception of the system after conducting the audit. In internal audit reports I see more comments than I see observations, so one may be dealing with opinions. Read this area and see if there are any comments that could be translated into preventive actions and that had not already been issued as nonconformities in the report.
Again, if this is a case of internal audits, then assess if modification of the audit report template itself is feasible. Modifying the audit report template to allow for structure comments regarding potential problems or observations will make job easier later on when is time to document preventive actions. Of course modifying the report format should be paired with training Auditors and Lead Auditors to be aware of what constitute a preventive action and the importance of reporting them.
Registrar External Audit reports
External Audit reports often contain several sections besides the Findings or Nonconformity sections. In fact, is not uncommon to see the following reported in an audit report from a registrar:
 Opportunities for Improvements
 Observations
 Noteworthy Efforts
 Nonconformities or Findings
Here it is easy to detect which areas should go into corrective action program and which areas should go into preventive action program. Obviously nonconformities or findings should go into corrective action program; however opportunities for improvement and observations should be looked at for incorporation into the preventive action system.
More often than not, observations and opportunities for improvement contain valuable information that can truly help the company in their continual improvement efforts. Even noteworthy efforts should be looked at to see if something working great in one area could be also applied to other areas of the company. If one takes this approach, one will see that there are many opportunities in the auditor’s report that can translate into preventive actions.
Customer Audit Reports or Customer Requests
Most quality management systems have a program to handle customer complaints either through corrective action system or through a standalone customer complaint program. While this is great, it often overlooks or does not address results from customer audits or customer requests. In fact unless the customer does complaint, many customer requests are not documented. Basically the customer request is acted on and taken care, without appropriate documentation. As in the case of internal or external audit reports, if customer conducts an audit and issues a report, take a look at the results beyond the nonconformities or findings and use any comments or suggestions as opportunities that can be funneled through preventive action program.
If customer’s suggestions, requests or other comments are properly documented through preventive action program, one stands to gain not only from the potential improvement itself but actually one may find some trends or patterns that were not visible before. When it comes to customer satisfaction and continual improvement of customer relations, any opportunity should be greatly welcome.
Keep it Simple
While the purpose of this article is to help boost the number of preventive actions in company and to benefit from the subsequent improvement one will see from them, it is not our intention to overburden system or to consume valuable resources in tasks that are not value add. First thing one may want to do is make sure that preventive action program is simple. Basically a preventive action system should be:
 Simple to use
 Simple to act on
 Simple to follow up
 Intuitive
If one needs a full time data entry person to fill out hard paper form -if one does not have an electronic system – or if one needs a rocket scientist to fill out electronic preventive action form, then system will not get used and preventive actions will not be recorded. One should make it easy for anybody to submit preventive actions or any opportunity for improvement for that matter. In fact, very few fields should be required, enough fields to know what and where; the how, the who and when can be determine by somebody else, perhaps a manager or the person who has the responsibility for the preventive and corrective action program.
Ensure that form or electronic system is flexible. Just as corrective actions are not created equal, neither are preventive actions. System should have flexible paths, to allow for quick improvements to be documented in a few steps, while deeper or complex improvements may need additional verification steps. Also do not confuse verification with validation. Oftentimes, preventive actions do not require validation, for the obvious reasons that they are preventive actions and the problem has not happen in the first place.
When one removes the responsibility for determining how an improvement ought to happen from the person reporting the opportunity, one may see that more people are apt for submitting improvements. While in some cases a person submitting an improvement may also be tasked with investigating how the preventive action can be put in place, it will be done with management backing, so the individual is ensured that his or her idea or issue is taken seriously.
Above all… Training
Adequate training is definitely a key factor in ensuring that people are knowledgeable of the programs and the systems one has in place as well as the importance of bringing opportunities for improvement or preventive actions to light. So if all else fails, then one may need to revisit if more training is required to ensure that employees know the value of continual improvement. In fact employees should have the mindset that any problem -potential or detected- is part of the continual improvement efforts and basically should be seen as an opportunity to be a better company and not as an admittance of failure.
This article should give you enough tools to boost your preventive action system and the number of preventive actions entered in program, not just for auditing purposes but for making sure that improvements are brought up and addressed appropriately. Organization should be in a continual state of improvement, and rising the bar every so often should help in journey to world class quality.
About the Author
Miriam Boudreaux is the President of Mireaux Management Solutions, a consulting firm headquartered in Houston, TX. To get in touch with Miriam Boudreaux please contact her at miriam@mireauxms.com.