This Open Educational Resource provides a introduction to Root Cause Analysis as well as the process involved in performing a Root Cause Analysis.

1. Also known as RCA
Introduction to
Root Cause
Analysis
Click to
START

2. What is Root Cause Analysis?
RCA is a very popular and frequently used technique to help people
find the answer as to why a problem happened in the first place.
Symptoms of the
problem.
The ‘weed’ above the
surface - obvious.
The underlying cause.
The ‘root’ below the
surface – not obvious.
The word ‘root’ in Root Cause Analysis refers to the underlying causes and not the one
cause.
next
back
Click the video to learn more.

3. RCA has five identifiable steps
Click on each step to learn more.
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

4. RCA has five identifiable steps
Click on each step to learn more.
Define the problem
All RCAs are driven by evidence. Therefore, the first step is to identify the problem and to better understand the current
situation.
Ask yourself…
• What do you see happening?
• What are the specific symptoms?
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

5. RCA has five identifiable steps
Click on each step to learn more.
Collect data
Gather all the relevant information about the problem and presents it in a concise format. Ask yourself…
• What proof do you have that the problem exists?
• How long has the problem existed?
• What is the impact of the problem?
You need to analyse a situation fully before you can move on to look at factors that contributed to the problem.
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

6. RCA has five identifiable steps
Click on each step to learn more.
Identify possible factors
During this stage, identify as many causal factors as possible. Too often, people identify one or two factors and then stop, but
that's not sufficient. With RCA, you don't want to simply treat the most obvious causes – you want to dig deeper.
Ask yourself…
• What sequence of events leads to the problem?
• What conditions allow the problem to occur?
• What other problems surround the occurrence of the central problem?
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

7. RCA has five identifiable steps
Click on each step to learn more.
Identify the Root Causes(s)
There are various tool that you can use to identify the causal factors. You would have gone into more detail about these in Step
3. These tools are designed to encourage you to dig deeper at each level of cause and effect.
Use the RCA tools to identify the causal factors to determine:
• Why does the causal factor exist?
• What is the real reason the problem occurred?
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5

8. RCA has five identifiable steps
Click on each step to learn more.
Recommend and implement solutions
Ask yourself….
• What can you do to prevent the problem from happening again?
• How will the solution be implemented?
• Who will be responsible for it?
• What are the risks of implementing the solution?
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5
next
back

9. 1. Mark Galley. (29 Jan 2018). What is root cause
analysis?. Available:
https://blog.thinkreliability.com/what-is-root-
cause-analysis. Last accessed 13 August 2021.
2. Mind Tools Content Team. (). Root Cause
Analysis. Available:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/new
TMC_80.htm. Last accessed 13 August 2021.
3. All images taken from
https://www.shutterstock.com/home
References
next
back

10. back
What’s next?
This presentation has provided a high-level overview of what Root Cause
Analysis is as well as the steps one would go through to do a Root Cause
Analysis.
The next step would be to look at the various tools
that can be used to perform a Root Cause
Analysis.