What is the detailed procedure safety professionals use to look beyond the initial knee-jerk reaction to assign blame for an incident?

• A. Root cause analysis
• B. Incident report
• C. Near-miss investigation
• D. Risk assessment

Answer: (A)

Root cause analysis focuses on uncovering the underlying factors that allowed an incident to happen, not on assigning blame. It treats safety as a system issue and uses structured methods—such as repeatedly asking why to drill down into contributing factors, or building cause-and-effect diagrams—to trace the event to fundamental problems like gaps in procedures, training, equipment design, maintenance, or management oversight. By identifying these root causes, investigators can implement corrective actions that address the core weaknesses and prevent recurrence, rather than just labeling individuals.

Documentation of what happened is captured in an incident report, which records facts but doesn’t necessarily explore why the incident occurred. Investigating a near miss concentrates on a close call and analyzes why it almost resulted in harm, again with the aim of preventing recurrence, but it centers on near misses rather than a completed incident. Risk assessment is proactive, evaluating hazards and their potential impact to reduce risk before an incident occurs, rather than explaining a past event.