TapRooT® RCA – Human Performance when Human Performance Wasn’t Cool
It’s amazing how many times I talk with a new or potential TapRooT® user and they ask, “How can TapRooT® RCA be adapted to cover human performance?” It stops me completely in my tracks and almost makes me lose my train of thought. The answer to this question goes to the very heart of the TapRooT® System. I’ve talked about this in the past, but I think it’s important enough to emphasize again.
What Does Human Performance Mean?
I think this question comes up for one of a few reasons:
- People aren’t sure what “Human Performance” means.
- Someone has heard a discussion by a colleague or consultant that mentions it, and feels it is somehow this newfangled concept.
Let’s talk briefly about human performance. This is a very broad topic, and the term is used by different people in different ways. It is sometimes used interchangeably with human factors. I don’t want to turn this into a long discussion about semantics and lose the point, but in TapRooT® RCA, we address human performance as the best practices that make humans more reliable. We are not categorizing human errors. We are using decades of scientific human performance research to identify best practices that organizations can use to avoid repeating the same errors in the future.
And by the way, none of our root causes are about assigning blame. There are several methodologies that, either overtly or subtly, begin by looking for ways to blame the employee. Even systems that claim to be “no blame” often end up with blame-based corrective actions.
There are newer systems today that pride themselves on being focused on human performance, some even have it in their name, but this is not a newly discovered concept. TapRooT® RCA was developed more than 35 years ago, based on decades of human performance research and expertise. It has been around far longer than most of these systems.
Human Performance and the TapRooT® System
Human performance and human factors are core features of the Root Cause Tree® Diagram. One of the first things we look for when collecting evidence during an investigation is whether there were problems related to human performance. Many other systems do identify human errors, but then stop there. They note that a mistake was made, assign it to a broad category, and move directly to corrective actions. This approach often leads to actions that focus on the individual rather than fixing systemic issues.
While TapRooT® RCA does identify the errors that occurred, it goes further than where other systems stop. It digs into the reasons those errors were made. This allows investigators to identify which best practices were missing from the system and to look for evidence of those gaps. Once these human performance-based root causes are identified, it becomes much easier to develop corrective actions that strengthen the system instead of pointing a finger at employees.
When someone asks, “How does TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis handle human performance issues?” I tell them TapRooT® RCA was addressing human performance long before it became a popular topic.
In the 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Training, you’ll learn how human performance fits into real investigations. You’ll practice gathering the right evidence, asking better questions, and identifying system weaknesses that quietly set people up to fail.
If you want investigations that lead to stronger safeguards and fewer repeat events, this course provides the tools and structure to get there.
