Corrections Policy

What we correct

We correct anything that could leave a reader with a false understanding, including:

• factual errors
• wrong units or conversions
• instructions that are outdated or superseded
• official-source information that was broken, stale or mischaracterized
• incorrect product specifications
• attribution errors
• wording that is technically true but misleading

Types of update

Minor edit

Spelling, grammar or clarity that does not change meaning. No correction note.

Material correction

A factual change that could affect what a reader understands or does. The page is updated and carries a visible correction note.

Developing or live update

For active hazards and live pages. The timestamp and source status update; an ordinary feed refresh is not framed as a correction, because it is not one.

Corrections are not the same as revisions

Preparedness content ages in two different ways, and conflating them makes both harder to trust.

A correction means we were wrong at the time of writing. A revision means the world changed — an agency updated its guidance, a product was discontinued, a season ended. Both update the page; only the first carries a correction note.

We keep them distinct so that a correction note means something. If every routine seasonal refresh were labeled a correction, the label would stop carrying information.

How corrections appear

A material correction is shown on the page itself, with the date, a short description of what was wrong, and what it was changed to.

We do not silently rewrite meaningful errors. If the change matters enough to make, it matters enough to state.

What this looks like in practice

Three worked examples, because policies stated in the abstract are easy to agree with and hard to apply:

• A misstated figure. A page says a water container holds seven gallons when it holds five. That changes what a reader stores for their household. Material correction, dated note on the page.
• An outdated instruction. A safety recommendation was accurate when written and has since been revised by the issuing agency. The page is updated, and the note says what the previous guidance was so a reader who acted on it knows to revisit their setup.
• A clumsy sentence. A paragraph is rewritten for clarity without any change of meaning. Minor edit, no note. Adding one would only dilute the notes that matter.

Live pages and developing situations

Pages tied to an active hazard change while the hazard is active, and that creates a genuine risk of confusion between updating and correcting.

Our rule is simple: if information was accurate when published and the situation then changed, that is an update. If information was wrong when published, that is a correction, and it gets a note — even on a fast-moving page, and even if the wrong version was only live briefly.

How quickly we act

A safety-critical error is corrected as soon as it is confirmed, ahead of any other work. Other factual corrections are handled in the normal editorial cycle.

We are not going to publish a service-level commitment we cannot guarantee. What we will commit to is that a reported error is either corrected or answered — including when we conclude the page was right — rather than left unacknowledged.

Report an error

If you have found a mistake, tell us through the contact page, choosing the editorial correction route. Three things make a correction fast to act on:

• the page URL
• what specifically is wrong
• the source or evidence, if you have it