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June 4, 2025 | Mark Paradies

ChatGPT Says This About RCA

ChatGPT on phone from CANVA

I asked, ChatGPT Answered

I was reading about what people had to say about the best root cause analysis system and I wondered how AI would answer the question. So I asked ChatGPT this question:

What is the best root cause analysis system
for simple and complex incident investigations?

I asked the question this way because I wanted to use one system for both the simple precursor incidents and for more complex (or very complex) SIFs or process safety incidents. That way investigators would only need to be trained on one system, management would only have to understand the results of one system, and the data produced could be compared and trended.

Here is what ChatGPT said about their answer:

The “best” root cause analysis (RCA) system depends on the complexity of the incident and the needs of your organization (e.g. industry, resources, regulatory compliance). Here’s a breakdown of the top RCA systems that work well for both simple and complex investigations:

What was the #1 system recommended by ChatGPT?

1. TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis

What did ChatGPT have to say about TapRooT® RCA?

    Best for: High-risk industries (oil & gas, healthcare, aviation, manufacturing)

    Strengths:

    • Structured, systematic, and scalable from simple to complex incidents
    • Emphasizes human performance and system-level causes
    • Built-in tools like SnapCharT®, Root Cause Tree®, and Corrective Action Helper®

    Downsides: Training required; software licensing costs

    Downsides or Advantages?

    For the brevity of the response, I thought ChatGPT did a fairly good job evaluating the strengths of the TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis System. On the other hand, I think the “downsides” are actually advantages.

    What do I mean by the downsides being advantages?

    Training Required

    training, course

    ChatGPT listed training required as a downside of the TapRooT® RCA System. I can’t think of any root cause analysis tool that doesn’t require training. So the question I see is:

    What is the value of the training?

    In the case of TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis, I know that class participants praise the training. From the 2-Day TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Essentials Course to the 3-Day Virtual TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Essential Course to the 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Training, the courses are:

    • Interactive
    • Interesting
    • Use real-life industrial examples
    • Allow students to try analyzing one of their own incidents
    • Are designed to provide the learning needed for the focus of the course (simple or complex investigations, or both) to be targeted to the audience
    • Taught by highly experienced instructors
    • Continuously improved for 30+ years
    • Guaranteed

    Beyond the three standard courses mentioned above, there are several specialty courses for companies that want to focus on a particular type of problem or need advanced training on a particular topic. A few of these include:

    All the courses mentioned above provide exceptional value by helping your investigators hit the ground running to provide thorough, effective root cause analysis that identifies fixable problems and effective corrective actions that management can support. Perhaps that’s why so many industry leaders have adopted TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis as their standard RCA tool.

    To see the dates and locations of our upcoming TapRooT® RCA Traning, CLICK HERE. To schedule a course at your site, CONTACT US.

    Software

    ChatGPT mentions software licensing costs as a downside. But I thought:

    You get what you pay for.

    The patented, cloud-based TapRooT® Software includes all the TapRooT® RCA embedded tools mentioned by ChatGPT including:

    • SnapCharT® Diagrams
    • Root Cause Tree® Diagrams (and the Root Cause Tree® Dictionary)
    • Corrective Action Helper® Guide
    • + more

    The first TapRooT® Software started back in 1991 when there was no other RCA software. The TapRooT® Software has been improved and made more powerful ever since.

    TapRooT® Software
    Old versions of the TapRooT® Software, through version 5.

    Over the years, SI has invested multi-millions of dollars making this software powerful, yet easy to use. And our development team continues to add new powerful features to the software every year to make the software easier to use and more powerful. Our latest hosted, cloud-based release is version 6.17.

    So, of course, there is a license fee to take advantage of all this development effort and to continue to keep the TapRooT® Software an industry leader.

    Once again, it isn’t that there is a cost, it is the value you receive for the cost. To schedule a software demo and executive briefing, CLICK HERE.

    After all, what is a great root cause analysis (and great root cause analysis training and software) worth when it stops potential serious problems from happening in the future?

    Something Beyond ChatGPT’s Recommendation

    There was one more thing that was worth mentioning beyond the items listed in ChatGPT’s recommendation.

    The Global TapRooT® Summit

     

    If your company is interested in continuous improvement and best practices from companies around the world to improve:

    • Safety
    • Quality
    • Process Safety
    • Human Performance
    • Operational Excellence/Becoming a High-Reliability Organization
    • Equipment Reliability
    • Incident Investigations & RCA

    Then you might be interested in the Summit that we sponsor every 18 months.

    For 2025, we have five interesting, motivating Key Speakers

    Summit Keynote Speakers

    and eight Best Practice Sharing Tracks with nine sessions in each track

    Best Practice Tracks

    You can customize your Summit experience by choosing the sessions you would like to attend from one track or a variety of tracks.

    Finally, we offer some of our excellent training on the Monday and Tuesday prior to the Summit so you can make your learning experience last all week to get the most from your travel dollars. For 2025, the courses include:

    So if your company wants to be the best or simply learn from the best, the Global TapRooT® Summit provides unparalleled opportunities for cross-industry/cross-profession networking, benchmarking, and learning at this unique event sponsored by System Improvements (the TapRooT® Folks). That’s a benefit that no other root cause analysis tool offers.

    For complete Summit information and to register for the 2025 Global TapRooT® Summit, CLICK HERE.

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