Template
Non-conformance report template
Six numbered sections, the six dispositions and nine root causes this app ships with, and the one distinction most NCR forms get wrong — the difference between putting this occurrence right and stopping the next one.
A snag is work that is incomplete or damaged and needs a trade. A non-conformance is work that does not meet a stated requirement and needs a decision before anybody touches it. Putting the second on the snagging list is how it gets quietly closed by the person who caused it.
What is on the form
| Section | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Identification | NCR number, date, who raised it, project, location, work package, responsible organisation, severity. |
| 1 · Description of the non-conformity | What was found, where, and when. Facts only — no blame and no proposed fix yet. |
| 2 · Requirement not met | The clause, drawing, standard or approved detail it fails against. Without this, it is an opinion. |
| 3 · Impact assessment | On the works, the programme, adjacent trades and safety. This is what decides how hard people work on it. |
| 4 · Disposition and root cause | What is agreed to be done with the non-conforming work, why it happened, who approved it and when. |
| 5 · Correction and corrective action | Two separate fields, deliberately. See below. |
| 6 · Verification and close-out | The evidence that the correction worked, and who accepted it. Never the party that carried it out. |
The six dispositions
What is agreed to happen to the non-conforming work. One of these, approved by a named person, with a date.
| Disposition | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Rework | Bring it back into full conformity. The default, and the one that needs no justification. |
| Repair | Make it acceptable without fully meeting the original requirement. Needs agreement and a record of what was accepted. |
| Replace | Take it out and put in new. Usually where rework is not possible or not economic. |
| Use as-is (concession) | Accept it as it stands. Only ever with the designer or client agreeing in writing, and it belongs in the handover pack. |
| Further testing / investigation | The extent or the cause is not yet known. A holding disposition, not a resting place. |
| Remove and reconstruct | The work comes out entirely. Reserved for the serious ones. |
The nine root causes
Picked from a fixed list, so that a year of NCRs can be counted. Free text here means you learn nothing from your own records.
| Root cause | |
|---|---|
| Workmanship | |
| Supervision | |
| Design / information | |
| Material or product | |
| Setting out / survey | |
| Sequencing / programme | |
| Competence / training | |
| Damage by others | |
| Not yet determined |
Correction is not corrective action
“The four unsealed penetrations at riser C3 were sealed with the certified batt and coating system and re-inspected on 3 October.” This occurrence, put right.
Corrective action“The M&E supervisor now signs each riser off against the fire stopping register before the drylining package is released to board it.” The next occurrence, prevented.
Most NCR forms have one box, and it gets filled with the correction. That is why the same non-conformity comes back on the next block. If you only change one thing about your form, make it this.
Severity, and what it changes
A critical non-conformance means the affected work is contained and not covered up or progressed until a disposition has been approved. That sentence should be printed on the form, because the point of the severity field is to trigger that behaviour, not to sort a spreadsheet.
Closing it
Verification is evidence, not a signature: photographs, a test result, a re-inspection record. And the person who closes it is never the party that carried out the correction — the same rule as a snagging list, for the same reason.
Where the form stops working
A Word form per NCR means nobody can answer “how many are open against Block B” without opening a folder. The register sheet in the download is a partial answer. The full one is a register where the form and the list are the same record, the photographs sit on it, and moving it to verification is blocked until the proof of the correction is attached.
Related
Non-conformances in the app
Six statuses, six dispositions, nine root causes, photo proof required.
See how it works →Snagging list template
For the ones that need a trade rather than a decision.
Get the template →Inspection and test plan template
A failed ITP stage is usually where an NCR starts.
Get the template →Raise it where the evidence lives
A seven-stage workflow with root cause analysis, photo proof of the correction, and a close-out that somebody other than the trade has to sign.