May 11, 2022 | Mark Paradies

Root Cause Analysis: Everything You Need to Know (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Three Bogus Root Cause Analysis Articles this Week

I read a lot of articles about root cause analysis. They usually claim to be everything you need to know. This week I read three of them with almost identical advice. They recommended:

5 Whys
Fishbone Diagrams
Cause Trees

as all you needed to know to perform a root cause analysis and solve your problems. What a joke!

You have probably already read one of these articles about the drawbacks of using 5-Whys:

Are You Dissatisfied with 5-Whys Root Cause Analysis?

Comparing 5-Whys with Advanced Root Cause Analysis

5-Why Examples [The Best and The Worst!]

Or this article about the Pros and Cons of Fishbone Diagrams:

Fishbone Diagram Root Cause Analysis – Pros & Cons

When I see someone recommending these techniques as “all you need to know,” I know these “experts” don’t know what they are talking about.

Seeing experts recommend techniques that really don’t work well is very disheartening. Some people may believe these so-called experts. They may use these substandard techniques to investigate incidents. They will develop poor corrective actions. These will be “failed fixes” that won’t prevent more serious accidents. Accidents and incidents that can cause great facility damage, lost customers, regulatory action, and worst of all, lost lives.

What Should You Do? Advanced Root Cause Analysis!

First, you should read about the fundamentals of root cause analysis. Click on the link below for free, valuable information:

Root Cause Analysis Fundamentals

Then register for one of the TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Courses:

Just click on the link above to learn more about each course.

You may decide to attend one of our public courses or CONTACT US to schedule a course at your site. (Or call us at 865-539-2139 to discuss your options.)

You won’t be sorry because these courses are GUARANTEED!

Attend this course, go back to work, and use what you have learned to analyze accidents, incidents, near-misses, equipment failures, operating issues, or quality problems. If you don’t find root causes that you previously would have overlooked and if you and your management don’t agree that the corrective actions that you recommend are much more effective, just return your course materials and we will refund the entire course fee.