How long will a root cause analysis investigation normally take?
Three primary factors affect the amount of time required to complete an investigation – the magnitude of the problem being investigated, the skills of the investigator, and the time allowed for completing the investigation. The worst case scenario would involve a person with poor investigation skills trying to solve a big problem in a short amount of time. TapRooT® instructors often say that it can take as much as a week to thoroughly investigate a lost time incident or significant environmental spill. Major problems, such as refinery fires or fatalities, could take weeks or months. Smaller problems, such as analyzing why a person put the wrong label on a box of product, can be completed in a few hours. Most importantly, you have to consider the amount of resources that can be devoted to the investigation in a given period of time in order to effectively answer this question. For example, if it takes 40 man-hours to complete an investigation, and the people involved can only devote a t
Three primary factors affect the amount of time required to complete an investigation – the magnitude of the problem being investigated, the skills of the investigator, and the time allowed for completing the investigation. The worst case scenario would involve a person with poor investigation skills trying to solve a big problem in a short amount of time. TapRooT® instructors often say that it can take as much as a week to thoroughly investigate a lost time incident or significant environmental spill. Major problems, such as refinery fires or fatalities, could take weeks or months. Smaller problems, such as analyzing why a person put the wrong label on a box of product, can be completed in a few hours. One key factor that drives your ability to do good root cause analysis is having the ability to collect a broad-based set of facts in a concise amount of time (before the evidence cools off or changes too much. Interview findings provide only a portion (less than half) of the facts need
