Mitigation Action

An action taken to eliminate the root cause of a detected nonconformity, failure, or undesirable situation to prevent its recurrence. Corrective actions address why something went wrong, not just the immediate symptoms. They are distinguished from immediate actions (containment) and preventive actions (proactive measures for potential future problems).

An action taken to eliminate the potential cause of a nonconformity or failure that has not yet occurred but is anticipated based on risk assessment, trend analysis, or lessons learned from similar equipment or industry experience. Preventive actions are proactive measures designed to prevent problems before they manifest.

The progression of an action item through defined stages from creation to closure: Open (created, assigned), In Progress (work started), Completed (work finished, pending verification), Verified (effectiveness confirmed), and Closed (formal closure with evidence). Each transition is a governance event with audit trail, ensuring that actions are tracked to completion and their effectiveness is verified.

A structured repository that records all identified risks, their assessments (probability, consequence, risk level), treatment plans, residual risk after treatment, risk owners, review dates, and current status. The risk register provides a single authoritative view of an organization's risk landscape and serves as the primary governance tool for tracking risk management activities.

The overall process of risk identification, risk analysis, and risk evaluation. Risk assessment identifies what can go wrong (hazard identification), determines how likely it is and what the consequences would be (risk analysis), and compares the results against risk criteria to determine whether the risk is acceptable or requires treatment (risk evaluation). It is the systematic application of the ISO 31000 risk management process.