Skip to main content
By following this guide, you will independently verify that a corrective or preventive action has been effectively implemented, assess whether the identified risk has been adequately addressed, and document your findings for compliance.
Who should read this: CPA verifiers, safety managers, and quality assurance personnel. Any workspace member with Safety Manager or Admin permissions can serve as a verifier, provided they are not the CPA owner.Prerequisites: A CPA in Implemented status with evidence attached by the CPA owner. Familiarity with the CPA lifecycle (see CPA Lifecycle).

​
CPA lifecycle context

Verification occurs after the CPA owner has completed the assigned action and marked it as implemented. The full lifecycle is: The verification phase is where your organization confirms that actions are not just completed but actually effective. Without rigorous verification, CPAs can become a checkbox exercise rather than a genuine safety improvement mechanism.

​
Separation of duties

The verifier must be a different person than the CPA owner. This separation of duties is a fundamental principle of Safety Assurance — the person who implemented an action cannot objectively assess its own effectiveness. PlaneConnection enforces this rule at the system level. When a CPA moves to Implemented status, the Verify action is unavailable to the assigned owner. Only other users with Safety Manager or Admin permissions can initiate verification.
Do not work around the separation of duties requirement by having the owner dictate verification findings to another user. The verifier must independently assess the evidence and form their own conclusion about effectiveness. This independence is what gives the verification process its value.

​
The 4-step verification process

​
After verification

​
If verified effective

The CPA moves to Verification status. The safety manager reviews the verified CPA and advances it to Closed. Closed CPAs are read-only and retained per 14 CFR 5.97 — as long as the associated safety risk control remains relevant.

​
If verification fails

The CPA returns to In Progress for the owner to address the identified gaps. The verification cycle repeats:
There is no limit on the number of verification attempts, but repeated failures should prompt a review of whether the original action plan is adequate or whether a different approach is needed.
If a CPA fails verification more than once, escalate to the safety manager for review. Repeated failures may indicate that the root cause was not correctly identified in the original investigation, or that the CPA scope is insufficient to address the underlying issue. A new investigation or a new CPA may be warranted.

​
Regulatory alignment

Verification is how your organization demonstrates to the FAA that Safety Assurance is functioning — that you are not just identifying problems and assigning actions, but confirming that those actions produce results.

Create and Track CPAs

Full guide to CPA creation, assignment, and progress tracking.

CPA Lifecycle

Complete reference for statuses, transitions, and verification rules.

Track Your First CPA

Tutorial walkthrough of the complete CPA lifecycle including verification.

Manage Investigations

How investigations produce the recommendations that become CPAs.
Last modified on April 11, 2026