ARS Risk Reduction Reviews - Action Plans and Corrective Actions

One of the most important aspects of any audit is getting, not just the results (findings), but also the action plan (corrective actions). Developing and completing the action plan is often the most complicated and time consuming part of the whole process. The completed audit is truly only half the battle.

It can take a week or longer to put together a good action plan and too often this gets put on the "back burner" because of other priorities. The resulting action plans are many times not worth the paper they are printed on. Worse still, the problems identified in the audit do not get corrected and procedures are not put in place to prevent them from reoccurring in the future.

With ARS Risk Reduction Reviews, 100% completed action plans with corrective actions, regulatory standards, SOPs, references, target completion dates and responsible person(s) are generated at the closing conference before the auditor leaves. As a result, work on the action plan can begin immediately.

All problems areas discovered during the audit are delineated on the action plan, along with:

• Detail Regarding Exactly What the Deficiences Were
• Corrective Actions (professionally developed by experienced experts)
• Responsible Person(s) assigned to implement the corrective actions
• Target Completion Date
• Actual Completion Date
• References to Company SOPs, Policies, Contracts, Manuals, etc.
• References to Regulatory Standards (DOT, OSHA, EPA, ADA, etc).

The action plan is a working document saved as a Microsoft Excel worksheet that can be edited by management staff.

Everyone involved knows what has to be done, when it has to be done, why it has to be done and exactly who is responsible for each and every deficiency found on the audit.

This 100% completed action plan helps to ensure that corrective actions are understood and are actually implemented so that the problems do not reoccur.

For more information about Risk Reduction Review Services at Austian's Risk Services, Inc., please checkout our website at:

ARS Risk Reduction Reviews