Here is a GREAT “self-assessment” tool, just eight (8) questions, to evaluate your facility’s ability to investigate and perform causal analysis properly.
- Are investigations carried out by multi-functional teams, including operators, where appropriate?
- Do investigations recognize that accidents normally have more than one cause?
- Do investigations identify underlying causes and system failures, not only immediate causes?
- Do investigations recognise that there are different types of human failure and take appropriate remedial action (i.e., avoid pat answers to ‘human error’)?
- Do investigations of human failures look for root causes (performance influencing factors)?
- Are employees blamed only where fair?
- Is the quality of investigations controlled, i.e. through management arrangements such as training, guidance and quality assurance?
- Is there an effective mechanism for action tracking?