Comments for Root Cause Analysis Blog

Comment on Atlanta Suburb Makes Accident Criminal - Your Thoughts? by Alan Weston

Alan Weston — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:21:33 +0000

I should think that there must be an onus on the police and prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the pedestrian would not have been killed if the driver were not texting, otherwise there is a failure to establish that, even if the driver were distracted, she had the ability and responsibility to avoid the illegally crossing victim.

If the police are this agressive, I suggest that the lady engage a good lawyer and go after them for a malicious prsecution. Too often law enforcement does not execute its responsibility to enforce the law, this smells like law making on the fly.

Comment on Statistical Analysis of Toyota “Acceleration” Accidents by Ian Roberts

Ian Roberts — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:28:31 +0000

The assessment is probably valid, but is not exactly robust. There’s no baseline with which to compare the apparent disproportionate number of deaths of older drivers. I did a quick trawl to find that 3x as many 40-year olds die in RTAs in the USA as 80-year-olds, so there is some significance, but if, for example, Toyotas are rarely driven by 20-year-olds, then it’s not surprising that few of them die in Toyotas.

More significantly, if a car fault creates a situation from which 90+% of drivers can recover (while the other 10% may be correlated with the elderly), that still seems like a car problem to me, rather than being a problem with ‘people who are not fit to drive Toyotas’. I’m not convinced that being ‘elderly’ is the root cause here!

Comment on Linda Kenney’s Story - Hear Her Speak at the TapRooT® Summit by Chris Vallee

Chris Vallee — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:22:05 +0000

What is often scary is when the patient remembers certain things during a procedure (even when under anesthesia) and they seem like bad dreams. It is not until you review the medical records that you realize that at least part of it was real and not a dream.

Why are patients not debriefed? Why do some care takers believe that the patient will not hear or recall what happened? Would this not help the recovery period?

In Kenney’s incident there unfortunately were physical affects of what happened, however in many cases the trauma is at the mental level and just as debilitating.

Comment on Job Opening: Portland, OR - Field Services Electrical Engineer - Needs Root Cause Analysis Skills by evision

evision — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:19:31 +0000

http://www.sangambayard-c-m.com

Comment on Atlanta Suburb Makes Accident Criminal - Your Thoughts? by Grant

Grant — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:46:02 +0000

Was the vehicle a Prius? Might be Toyota’s fault.

Even if it wasn’t, why didn’t the vehicle have a distraction alarm installed, or a collision alarm.

Comment on CNN Reports on Eric Cropp in Jail by Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:39:12 +0000

Eric Cropp is an innocent man. He should not be in jail due to a pharmacy technician error. This event occured due to the systems failure not the pharmacist nor the nurse. The medical professions working so hard because lack of people working in the hospitals or other reasons. A pharmacist have to answer the phone calls, data on the computer, and etc. The judge is so wrong to put Eric to jailed. This incidence will not make a difference but only could make it worst. We’re human and mistakes does happens everyday. We’re not perfect either and that’s why we’re human. People join the medical fields because they want to help others people But whenever there is something bad happen then they got blame for. Remember this: medical professionals saving many lives everyday and without them then mortality is beyond our expectation. Eric Cropp should be free. Gosh, I do wish there is more I could do for him. I am a citizen and does support Eric and Michael. It’s the system failure not Eric.

Comment on Monday Accident & Lessons Learned: Two Die In Trench Collapse by Brian Locker

Brian Locker — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:42:45 +0000

Yet another painful reminder of my 23 year old brother’s death at the bottom of an unprotected trench almost 40 years ago. My brother was born on April 9, 1947 and he died, far too soon, on October 13, 1970. I still remember my father’s exact words when he called me at school to tell me the awful news. And my tough Uncle from Alberta crying like a baby when he brought the body home to Ontario and describing how he could still see all the mud in my brother’s mouth when he identified the body.

Like too many, Alvie had his whole life in front of him and it was needlessly snuffed out in seconds. They say the best get taken too soon. It was certainly true in my brother’s case. He was a first class human being to everyone who knew him, making his death all the more heartbreaking.

Tragic and senseless, I could not agree with you more Mark. And I will tell you from personal experience that those left behind never get over it. My father was dead within two years of my brother. He had lost his first born and I think it broke his heart. I can tell you that it doesn’t take much for me to get motivated to do the work I do.

Mark, I think your article from 2003 is right on target. It needs to get up close and personal for the people in charge and everyone else who can make a difference. When that starts to happen, we’ll start to put a stop to these needless deaths.

Comment on Atlanta Suburb Makes Accident Criminal - Your Thoughts? by Carol

Carol — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:42:44 +0000

Distracted driving is dangerous and has consequences. I believe that there should be more laws in place to discourage all distracted driving. Unfortunately, issuing tickets is not much of a deterent. I don’t believe that incarceration is either (it just creates more crowding in an already overfilled jail system); unfortunately for both parties involved (who are both at fault) death caused by distraction IS a deterent. I’m sure this woman will not drive with distraction of any kind in the future (that she can control)–Have you seen the movie 7 pounds?
The question is, how can we educate drivers about the dangers of distracted driving without actually killing people?

Comment on CNN Reports on Eric Cropp in Jail by Janis Price

Janis Price — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:36:43 +0000

I agree with the safety expert interviewed - this tragedy should have been looked at as a systems issue. I also agree with Deborah that it will likely cause people not to speak up about errors and issues that might otherwise be corrected.

Comment on CNN Reports on Eric Cropp in Jail by Deborah Stephenson

Deborah Stephenson — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:11:00 +0000

Except for segragating sex offenders and murderers from their targest, punishment rarely prevents future recurrence. For the most part, fear of punishment closes the doors to real investigations in the future. Thus the imprisonment of the pharmacist or the driver will not preclude future occurences and may indeed create more instances because true causes will not be discovered and corrected.

Has speeding tickets stopped everyone from speeding on our highways? Even death hasn’t stopped speeders from speeding so obviously we have not found the correct prevention. We have been using a hammer to fix everything that is broken.