Reports and quality
Recording a non-conformity
What went wrong, what was done, and how to prove it later.
A non-conformity is not a failure to hide: it is proof the system detects things. What an auditor views badly is not that they exist — it is that none are recorded, or that they are all still open.
What you must be able to show
- 1
What happened and when it was detected
With dates. The gap between occurring and being detected is itself an indicator.
- 2
What was done immediately
The correction: stopping the batch, redoing the work, telling the client.
- 3
Why it happened
The cause, not the culprit. A record that names people stops being filled in.
- 4
What was changed to prevent recurrence
The corrective action, with an owner and a date.
- 5
Whether it worked
The closure. Without it, the non-conformity stays open forever.
Important
The step most often skipped is the last. A register full of non-conformities open for two years is worse than none: it demonstrates that things are detected and not corrected, which is the opposite of what it was meant to show.
What is worth attaching
Watch out
If the non-conformity affects a client or a third party, telling them is part of the correction and often has deadlines. Do not leave it until everything is analysed.
Worth knowing
Write the cause in a sentence that names nobody. "The procedure did not say who reviewed it" can be fixed; "Juan missed it" cannot.
›Does it serve for an ISO audit?
It is exactly the register asked for, with its dates and evidence.
›What about ones that come to nothing?
Close them noting no action was required. Closing is part of the record.
›Who should be able to raise them?
The more people the better. A non-conformity only a manager can raise goes unraised.
A real case
The situation
An auditor asks for the non-conformity register and finds thirty open for two years.
What you do
- Closes those no longer applicable, noting why
- Assigns an owner and date to the five real ones
What you get
The register turns from evidence against them into what shows the system works.
The situation
A non-conformity is noted in an email and three months later nobody knows if it closed.
What you do
- Records it in the file with an owner and a date
- Notes what action was agreed and by when
- Checks monthly which ones are still open
What you get
The non-conformity stops living in an inbox and either closes or explains why not.
The situation
It is recorded without saying what caused it.
What you do
- Notes the cause alongside the fact
What you get
The analysis starts from something.
The situation
They all get closed the day before the audit.
What you do
- Reviews them on their own cadence
What you get
Closing means something.
The situation
The same non-conformity repeats and nobody notices.
What you do
- Checks the history by type
What you get
The pattern shows and the cause gets tackled.
The situation
An auditor asks for the history and it has to be reconstructed.
What you do
- Checks the record with its dates
What you get
It is handed over without reassembling anything.
This article answers
- record a non-conformity
- quality incident management
- corrective actions iso
- auditor asks for non-conformities