Corrective vs preventive action
A corrective action fixes a problem that has already happened and addresses its cause. For example, after an incident caused by a missing guardrail, the guardrail is replaced and the inspection gap that missed it is closed.
A preventive action stops a problem before it happens. A near miss that shows a risk can prompt a new control before anyone is harmed.
A simple five-step CAPA process
1. Identify the problem from an incident, inspection or audit finding. 2. Assign an owner and a deadline. 3. Fix the issue and address the root cause. 4. Check that the fix worked. 5. Close the action with evidence.
Why CAPA goes wrong
Actions fail when nobody owns them, when there is no deadline, when they are tracked in email or when they are closed without evidence. Each of these is a tracking problem, and it is the one software solves best.