February 1, 2021 | Emily Pritt

Seven Secrets of Root Cause Analysis: A TapRooT® TV Video Premiere

If you want your root cause analysis to be effective (the best), you will want to learn about the seven secrets of effective root cause analysis that we have discovered from 30+ years of research and development of the world’s best root cause analysis system – TapRooT®.

Watch Alex Paradies and Benna Hughes as they discuss this topic on Wednesday

In the TapRooT® TV premiere on Wednesday at noon, on Facebook and YouTube

You may also listen to the conversation on the TapRooT® podcast

How Can the Secrets Help You?

The secrets can help you in many different ways!

  • When you make assumptions about an incident and guess at root causes, your corrective actions are fixing “guesses.” Unlock Secret #1, the key to understanding how an incident occurred without assuming.
  • Even if you are an experienced investigator, your knowledge will only take you so far.  Learn Secret #2 and stop missing root causes.
  • Are you jumping to “why” an incident occurred before examining what happened? Learn Secret #3 and collect better information.
  • Do you have trouble getting the information you need from investigative interviews? Learn how to get around that with Secret #4.
  • Do your corrective actions often include discipline, training, and procedures? Secret #5 will help you see beyond these three common fixes.
  • Are you experiencing repeat incidents? That’s sometimes an indicator of ineffective corrective actions. Secret #6 helps you stop incidents from recurring.
  • Your root cause system should be flexible enough to scale to the size of the problem and the risk of future accidents with similar causes. Then you avoid spending more time and money than necessary. Secret #7 tells you how.

The difference between a “good enough” investigation and a great investigation is seven secrets. This free webinar reveals all seven secrets that will change the way you conduct a root cause analysis.

What are the seven secrets?

Secret 1

Your root cause analysis is only as good as the info you collect. Or … garbage in = garbage out

Most root cause systems operate as a “standalone” module. Information goes in and an answer comes out. They don’t help investigators collect accurate info.

To make matters worse, some root cause tools actually start by developing a “hypothesis” and then collecting information to verify (or perhaps disprove) the hypothesis. Extensive research has proven that once an investigator becomes invested in a particular hypothesis, his/her brain automatically starts looking for “facts” to confirm the hypothesis and disregards “facts” that are counter to the hypothesis. The result? You find what you want to find. This is not a robust root cause analysis process.

7 Step Process

TapRooT® 7-Step Major Investigation Process
Copyright 2016 by System Improvements, Inc. Used by permission.

TapRooT® takes a completely different approach to how a root cause analysis process is used in an investigation. In the TapRooT® 7-Step Process (and in the 5-Step Proces for simple investigations), the root cause analysis tools are used throughout the investigation to make every investigation phase, including information collection, more robust.

STEP 1: PLANNING

The first tool from the TapRooT® Toolbox that helps an investigator collect info is the SnapCharT®. The investigator starts using this tool to organize the investigation and decide what evidence needs to be gathered and assigns a priority to secure evidence that might be lost.

STEP 2: DETERMINE WHAT HAPPENED

You may notice that in Step 2, there are four tools to help you collect information and determine the Incident’s sequence of events:

  1. SnapCharT®
  2. Equifactor®
  3. CHAP
  4. Change Analysis

When you attend the 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Course, you will learn all these techniques plus advanced tools to conduct a special type of interview: the cognitive interview – that helps people provide better information to assist your investigation.

FIRST SECRET

That’s the first secret. Get accurate, complete, necessary information to understand the incident. If you try to analyze assumptions, you will be guessing at the root causes and fixing your guesses. That would be a “bad practice.”

Secrets 2 – 7

To uncover the remaining secrets be sure to watch the video (also at the top of this page) in which we unveil all 7 Secrets. We will also be hosting a FREE 60-minute live webinar: Seven Secrets of Root Cause Analysis.


Join us every week for the TapRooT® TV video premiere

The premiere of new TapRooT® TV videos on Wednesdays is at noon, on Facebook and YouTube. You may also listen to the conversation on the TapRooT® podcast. Of course, you may always listen/watch at your convenience via these links, even if you miss the Wednesday premiere.

Register for a TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Training Course

TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Training courses are taught all over the world. If you are interested in learning how to stop repeat incidents, find a 2-day or 5-day course.  We are available to train you and your staff on-site at your workplace; contact us to discuss your needs. You may also call us at 865.539.2139.

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Career Development & Opportunities, Courses & Training, Human Performance, Implementation, Root Cause Analysis, Summit
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