When should a formalized “root cause analysis” be conducted on an equipment failure event?
Before we can effectively answer this question, we need to determine what is meant by the term ‘formalized.’ Most people consider root cause analysis to be formal in nature if some tool, or set of tools, is used to help guide people towards the root causes of a problem (as opposed to simply standing around and relying on opinion). My personal definition goes a little further however. To me, an RCA process is not formal unless facts are used to validate the root causes that are selected, and ideally, to also help guide the problem solvers towards a comprehensive set of possible root causes to begin with. Often, the list of possible root causes itself is much less than adequate because the belief systems, opinions, or knowledge base of the problem solver does not consider a sound list of human engineering, communication, procedure, training, work direction, or management system root cause possibilities. If your list of possible root causes is too narrowly defined, you won’t even begin to
