3 Tips from the Youngest TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Expert

Meet Adaline: 2.5-Year-Old TapRooT® RCA Expert…

Adaline Paradies is a 3^rd Generation TapRooT® User and the youngest TapRooT® Expert. It is hard to believe that a 2.5-year-old can be a TapRooT® Expert, but she has put in the effort.

How can you become a TapRooT® Expert like Adaline? Here are Adaline’s 3 tips:

1. Attend a 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Course.
2. Read the TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis for Major Investigations book.
3. Practice your skills.

1. Attend a 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Course

The best method to become a TapRooT® Expert is to attend a 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Course. The 5-Day TapRooT® Training is for people who investigate precursor incidents or major accidents (serious injuries, fatalities, major facility upsets, fires, explosions, or significant environmental releases). The course covers the essential TapRooT® Techniques (SnapCharT®, Safeguards Analysis, the Root Cause Tree®, and the Corrective Action Helper® Guide), and the optional tools (Change Analysis, CHAP, and Equifactor®) that are used in a complex investigation. In addition, the course covers advanced interviewing and information collection techniques and techniques to improve human performance. There are frequent exercises using the TapRooT® Software. This gives participants significant practice using the skills they will apply at work.

Adaline can frequently be found reviewing her course workbook to stay fresh with all the techniques she learned during the course.

Public 5-Day TapRooT® Courses will be resuming in July. Check our course schedule to see when there is a course near you.

2. Read the TapRooT® RCA for Major Investigation Book

In the 5-Day TapRooT® Course, you will Receive the TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis for Major Investigation book. If you read the book cover to cover, like Adaline, you will learn all the steps required to complete a major investigation along with much more. Adaline really likes the Safeguard pictures.

From evidence collection and interview techniques to optional techniques like Equifactor®, CHAP, and Change Analysis, the book and course also go in-depth on each basic cause category on the back of the Root Cause Tree® Diagram.

This book can be used as a reference, so you can read the whole book (just like a novel) or you can just skip to the parts that you need to learn (or be refreshed about). Once you finish reading the TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis for Major Investigation book, you may find yourself interested in the other TapRooT® Books. There is a TapRooT® 10 Book Set that covers a wide variety of helpful investigation and management tools. Adaline recommends reading them all during this time of social distancing.

3. Practice Your Skills

The next tip to become a TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Expert is to use your skills frequently. Hopefully, major investigations are not a regular occurrence at your company, so you need to use your skills for medium to low-risk incidents, audits, and assessments. At a minimum, you should perform one root cause analysis a month to keep your knowledge and skills refreshed. The more practice you have drawing SnapCharT®s and using the Root Cause Tree® Diagram (like Adaline is above) the more proficient (and faster) you will become. If you need suggestions for what incidents should be investigated, Adaline recommends looking at the precursor incidents article.

Becoming a TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis Expert has never been easier. Attend some of our courses, webinars, or read the TapRooT® Books. There are tons of great resources on the TapRooT® Store.

So … Don’t wait! Get started TODAY. Maybe you will see Adaline at a future TapRooT® Summit.

Special thanks to my wonderful daughter, Adaline, who loves working with her dad during social distancing and loves talking to people about TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis.