June 07, 2007
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Tip
Avoiding a disconnected RCA
When conducting Root Cause Analysis investigators should always be at the failure scene at the time the equipment is opened. The benefit to the investigation is enormous because when equipment is disassembled the evidence is removed and many times discarded quickly in an effort to get back to production. The advantage to the investigator is from a positional view of the failed area. When you are there the investigative process of mapping the failure scene can be accomplished accurately using video, digital pictures, and drawings. This becomes valuable later when the RCA team meets to discuss the possible failure scenarios based on the failure scene. If you have to rely on third party information it is likely skewed from the original scene. This can slow your RCA down because now you have to put the initial first viewing together based on people’s memories before you can continue your analysis. If what you are told is incorrect then your RCA is started using non-factual information and could end with non-factual conclusions.
Tip provided by Mark Latino
Reliability Center Inc.
http://www.reliability.com
