What is the Difference Between a Safety Related Incident and a Quality Problem when using TapRooT®?
what is the difference between a safety incident and a quality problem?
I bet you already guessed that “What is the difference when investigating a quality problem and safety incident?” is a trick question.
The answer is……drum roll, please
Yep, you guessed it, there is NO DIFFERENCE in the investigation process. The difference in a safety problem vs. a quality problem is the consequence; there is no difference in the approach you take in investigating.
In TapRooT®, the first thing we always do is to create a SnapCharT®. And the first thing we do when creating a SnapCharT® is to define the incident with a circle. This defines the scope of your investigation. Your circle could contain anything that creates pain for your company and that you would like to prevent from happening again. Examples of things that might go in your circle:
Safety
• Fatality
• Lost time injury
• Recordable injury
• Vehicle accident
• Facility damage
• etc. etc.
Quality
• Defective product (not sent to customer)
• Defective product (sent to customer)
• Customer complaint
• Delayed shipment
• Returns
• etc. etc.
Once you have defined the incident, you map out what happened, define the causal factors, perform root cause analysis, and develop corrective actions.
So start thinking about different ways your company can use TapRooT®. I’ve mentioned Safety and Quality, but there are many more. equipment reliability, environment, security, project delays; the list is really endless.
The more ways you can use TapRooT®, the better ROI you will get from your training. I know from experience when different disciplines in an organization start speaking the same language, there are some great intangible benefits as well. So if you are a safety manager, drag your quality manager with you to training next time. You will be glad you did.
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