Q: What’s the difference between corrective and preventive action?

Corrective actions are steps that are taken to remove the causes of existing nonconformities, while preventive actions are steps that are taken to remove the causes of potential nonconformities. Corrective actions address actual problems, ones that have already occurred, while preventive actions address potential problems, ones that haven’t yet occurred. In general, the corrective action process is a problem solving process, while the preventive action process is a risk analysis process