What Makes the TapRooT® Methodology Better?

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is the most effective practice for finding and solving the source of workplace incidents, but TapRooT® is not the only RCA method on the market. From Five-Whys to the Fishbone Diagram, RCA has been simplified by many industry leaders over the years. But is simple better, or does it lead people to miss crucial mistakes? And how does TapRooT® method approach RCA differently?

A Different Type of Analysis

The Five-Whys method is by far the simplest RCA method, and the most commonly known among supervisors. It consists of stating a single problem and asking “why?” five times to find the root cause of that problem. This assumes a simple cause and effect relationship between problems, which can oversimplify problems as it does not recognize the existence of multiple unconnected root causes. Also, boiling RCA down to a mere five questions creates the opportunity for the same root causes to appear again and again in different incidents.

The Fishbone Diagram method is a little more complex. It is made up of a fishbone shape, with the problem situated at the head and the different major factors for causes branching off on each side. These major factors prompt the user to ask questions about possible root causes:

• Site
• Task
• People
• Equipment
• Control

While still a cause and effect based method, this method does consider the possibility of multiple root causes. However, it also relies entirely on the pre-existing knowledge of the person filling out the chart. Due to confirmation bias, people are more likely to find causes they are already looking for. If someone is not an expert on human performance or engineering, they are not likely to remember to ask the questions that would make those root causes more clear.

The TapRooT® methodology utilizes significantly more in-depth categories than both of these methods, allowing people to see beyond cause and effect methods to a more detailed network of possible causes. We both eliminated the fallacy of a “single root cause” and compiled resources so that our users don’t lean entirely on their own pre-existing knowledge.

Making Expertise Accessible

With TapRooT®, root cause expertise becomes available to everyone, regardless of what their specialty is coming into an investigation. We’ve compiled resources from masters throughout the RCA field to develop an interface of skills for investigators to utilize, changing the standard for RCA from confirmation bias to excellence.

Accessible expertise saves time in an investigation, as it makes the necessary training to craft successful corrective actions significantly less time consuming. Rather than having to become professionals in every field, it takes the most important takeaways from those fields and tailors for the user the expertise they need.

Discover TapRooT®

To be trained in the TapRooT® method, check out our TapRooT® Courses.

To learn more about the five why’s method, and why it doesn’t work, check out our latest podcast episode.

To schedule a one-hour free executive briefing on the details of using the TapRooT® System, check out our executive portal below: