What is a corrective action?
A corrective action is the specific fix assigned after a hazard, near miss or incident, with a person responsible, a due date and a check that it was actually done.
What it means.
OSHA's recordkeeping rule does not define the term. It appears in OSHA guidance: the employer's guide to incident investigation ends with implementing corrective actions, and OSHA's hazard identification recommended practice tells employers to consider the severity and likelihood of each hazard and to prioritize corrective actions accordingly.
No rule sets a due date for an internal corrective action. The usual failure is not a missing action but one marked closed that nobody checked where the work happens.
Where it shows up on a job.
After a forklift near miss at a blind corner, the corrective action might be a convex mirror installed by a named person by Friday, then a supervisor walking the corner the following week to confirm it is up and angled the right way.
Where this comes from.
Each source was read on 22 October 2026. Guidance is advice; a regulation is the rule.
- Incident Investigation: A Guide for Employers (December 2015)Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA guidance, advisory. Close calls, and corrective actions as the end of an investigation.
- Recommended Practices: Hazard Identification and AssessmentOccupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA guidance, advisory. Prioritizing corrective actions by severity and likelihood.
A plain-language definition, not legal advice. For a decision on your site, read the standard that applies to it.
Related terms
- near miss
A near miss is an event that could have hurt someone and did not, often by luck; OSHA also calls it a close call.
- incident
An incident is an unplanned event at work that hurt someone or could have: a fatality, an injury, an illness or a close call.
- hazard
A hazard is anything at work that can hurt someone if it is not controlled: a condition, a task, a chemical or a source of energy.
- safety observation
A safety observation is a note that someone saw a condition or a behavior, safe or unsafe, usually written before anyone is hurt.
In PanoraSafety findings: Turn a finding filed on a phone into work with an owner, a due date and a dated log.