When does a failed inspection become an NCR?

The default is rectify and re-raise

A rejected inspection request is a normal event in a working quality system. The work is rectified and a new — or revised — request is raised. Turning every rejection into an NCR buries the register in noise and drains the escalation of any meaning.

The three triggers for escalation

Escalate to an NCR — with its root-cause and corrective-action obligations — when any of these is true:

• The same item fails repeatedly — the problem is systemic, not incidental, and needs a root cause
• The deviation cannot simply be redone — it is built in, concealed, or would require opening-up
• Work proceeded past an unreleased hold point — which is itself a non-conformance, regardless of whether the work turns out to be acceptable

The failure mode in the other direction

Under-escalating is the more expensive error. A recurring failure that is quietly rectified each time, never raised as an NCR, never gets a root cause — so it keeps recurring, and the pattern only surfaces when the snag list at handover turns out to be full of it.

Terms

• NCR (Non-Conformance Report)