When Stories Don’t Agree

He Says / She Says

In your experience investigating incidents, have you ever had two credible witnesses whose stories didn’t agree? And even worse, no evidence confirms either story. Therefore, either story could be true. What if these stories point to one or more potential Causal Factors that could be important to your root cause analysis, but the two different stories don’t indicate the same Causal Factor?

What can you do?

1. Prevent the Lack of Agreement

We know that witnesses’ memories aren’t 100% accurate. This frequently leads to disagreement about the “facts.”

How can you supplement witnesses’ memories? With a Black Box that includes audio or audio/visual recordings of what was said. This could be communications in a control room and/or radio transmissions (similar to cockpit voice recorders on airlines).

These should have embedded time stamps so they can be aligned with other data (for example, computer records).

Using these devices, you will often discover that what was remembered wasn’t what was actually said. Sequences may be different. Stories might be inaccurate. Things might have been left out. You may spot where disagreements in the witness’s recollections came from.

Of course, you need to install the Black Box before the next controversial incident. Otherwise, you are stuck with two stories that don’t agree. What can you do then? Read on for an idea…

2. Treat Both Stories as True

If you can’t prove which story is accurate, you can act as if both stories are true (or at least may be true). This “evidence” can then be included in your SnapCharT® Diagram as dotted ovals (assumptions) and, if they become Causal Factors, analyzed using the Root Cause Tree® Diagram.

Your option is to develop corrective actions for both paths – both Causal Factors and the root causes related to those Causal Factors – because either might need to be corrected to prevent future accidents.

Obviously, having a Black Box recording is better than treating two different stories as facts, but if you don’t have a way to verify the stories, this might be your only choice.

Next Step

If both stories have root causes you believe will improve performance, you can implement corrective actions for both. However, if you find that one or more corrective actions require considerable budget, outage time, plant design modifications, or complex training, you may have to consider what is reasonable for a Causal Factor and root causes that really aren’t proven.

Learn More About Evidence Collection and Root Cause Analysis

Would you like to learn more about interviewing, evidence collection, and root cause analysis? Then you should consider attending a 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Course. CLICK HERE for a course outline. CLICK HERE for our public upcoming 5-Day Course dates and locations. For a quote to hold a course at your site, contact one of our Implementation Advisors by CLICKING HERE or calling 865-539-2139.

Also, consider reading book 7 of our 10-book set – TapRooT® Evidence Collection and Interviewing Techniques to Sharpen Investigation Skills. See more about the book HERE.

Note that we are in the process of revising this book. A new book and course will be available before the next Global TapRooT® Summit coming up on April 5-9,2027, at the Margaritaville Resort, Lake Conroe, near Houston, Texas.

We also have an e-Learning course titled Evidence Collection and Investigative Interviewing. Get a free preview HERE. Read about the course HERE. And register for the $299 course HERE.

Finally, we have a pre-Summit Course all about interviewing and collecting information:

Effective Interviewing and Evidence Collection

The new Effective Interviewing and Evidence Collection Course will be held on April 5-6.

Barb Carr and Amy Souders will be teaching the refreshed class that is based on the material in the new book. See more about the class HERE.

See the complete course outline HERE.

And learn more about the 2027 Global TapRooT® Summit, being held on April 5-9 at the Margaritaville Resort, Lake Conroe (near Houston, TX) HERE. Or watch the following video…

There are six Best Practice Tracks, including the Psychology of Excellent Performance Track, organized by Barb Carr.

One of the sessions in this track is the Improving Listening Skills for Improved RCA. What do you think? Would improved listening skills help you collect better information for your root cause analysis?

To register for the Summit (and a pre-Summit Course), CLICK HERE.