What is a root cause analysis?

What is a root cause analysis?

• A. A summary report of the incident without correcting actions.
• B. A process to assign blame for an incident.
• C. A method to identify the underlying reasons for an incident to prevent recurrence.
• D. A process for documenting the time of occurrence.

Answer: (C)

Root cause analysis is a systematic approach to uncover the underlying reasons why an incident occurred, so you can implement fixes that prevent it from happening again. It looks beyond what happened and when to examine the conditions, processes, and interactions that allowed the event to occur—considering people, methods, materials, machines, and the environment. By tracing causality and identifying the true factors behind the incident, you can put targeted corrective actions in place that address the root causes, not just the symptoms. Techniques like asking why several times and using fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams help structure this investigation, and the goal is to improve systems and controls rather than assign blame. The other options describe simply summarizing the incident, blaming someone, or documenting timing, none of which identify underlying causes or prevent recurrence.