Root-cause corrective action plans

Identifies documents containing references to root-cause corrective action plans in Australian contexts. Higher confidence identifies populated plans linking an analysed root cause to assigned corrective work (owner, due date, containment, or effectiveness verification); standalone RCA/CAPA topic terms remain discovery-only.

Type

regex

Engine

boost_regex

Confidence

medium

Confidence justification

category-aware structural regex with anchor and context constraints replaces phrase-only detection. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.

Detection quality

Topic false positive

Jurisdictions

global

Regulations

AML/CTF Act (Cth), HRIPA (Cth), IPA 2009 (Qld), My Health Records Act 2012 (Cth), NDB Scheme (Cth), Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), TIA Act 1979 (Cth), GDPR

Frameworks

ISO 27001, ISO 27701

Data categories

intellectual-property, audit

Scope

wide

Risk rating

7

Platform compatibility

Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Degraded, Netskope: Unsupported

Pattern

(?is)\b(?:root\s+cause|corrective\s+action|preventive\s+action|root\s+cause\s+analysis|containment\s+action|effectiveness\s+check|quality\s+improvement|deviation\s+investigation)\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

root-cause corrective action plans, root, cause, corrective, action, plans, product, quality, safety, SCADA, [object Object], [object Object], [object Object], Modbus, Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, DNP3, OPC-UA, OPC Classic, IEC 61850 (+35 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

• root cause — Primary topic phrase match
• corrective action — Case-insensitive topic phrase match
• preventive action — Alternative topic phrase match
• root cause analysis — Additional topic phrase match
• Root cause: seal jig drift. Corrective action: recalibrate and lock jig. Owner: A. Singh. Due date: 22 Aug. Effectiveness check: 3 lots. — Stated cause linked to assigned corrective work and verification (enforces at 75/85)

Should not match

• unrelated generic text without domain phrases — No relevant topic phrases present
• placeholder value 12345 — Random text should not match topic-specific regex
• product failure — Generic word pair from old broad template should not match
• Agenda: discuss root cause and possible corrective action. — Unpopulated, unassigned plan — discovery only, must not enforce
• The editor corrected the root of a mathematical expression. — Words outside quality RCA/CAPA meaning must not match
• CAPA training template: Root cause: example; owner: placeholder. — Training/template/placeholder marks a teaching form — suppressed from enforcement
• root cause analysis — Analysis label alone is not a corrective-action plan — discovery only, must not enforce

Known false positives

• Common words and phrases related to root-cause corrective action plans appearing in policy documents, training materials, HR templates, or compliance guidelines without actual personal data. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window to confirm sensitive data context rather than general discussion.
• In Australian English, similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.
• High-frequency pattern matches in large document corpora due to broad regex anchors. Expected match rate is significantly higher than specific identifier patterns. Mitigation: Tune confidence thresholds for bulk scanning. Consider using this pattern primarily as a pre-filter with secondary validation.

References

• https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/model-code-practice-how-manage-work-health-and-safety-risks
• https://www.productsafety.gov.au/product-safety-laws