Friday Jokes
Friday Jokes are memes, videos, and anything funny! Tune in every week for another joke that may (or may not) relate to root cause analysis.
It is not!
02/20/2026
Okay, technically, near misses are not SIFs. 🚬
You should still treat every PSIF like a SIF, though!
In fact, in the TapRooT® Books, we don’t refer to PSIFs as “near misses” or “close calls”. We call them “precursor incidents”.
This is because a PSIF reveal the holes in our systems.
If the incident was only prevented by a couple of safeguards (or dumb luck), that means all the other safeguards have failed.
As such, the event preludes to what’s to come if we don’t immediately find and fix the root causes: an actual SIF.
Forgetting Something?
02/13/2026
“If you forgot, then it wasn’t important.” 🤷
When it comes to safety, this couldn’t be further from true.
Workers in hazardous fields have to remember a lot of information, from everyday tasks (like wearing PPE) to unfamiliar situations (like emergency procedures).
How can we help workers remember what’s important?
🧹 Clean Up the Clutter
More paperwork to review means more knowledge to cram. Time spent filling or reading redundant papers — or unneeded details of important papers — slowly dampens the memory of more critical tasks.
Review your documentation and consider cutting anything that is not critical.
🤖 Minimize Reliance on Human Memory
Human memory is deceptively unreliable. Checklists can go a long way to take the burden of memorization off the workforce.
Filling in a checkbox is a lot easier than trying to remember individual steps or tasks.
🗣️ Demonstrate the Importance
The Illusion of Safety in Familiarity causes us to naturally grow complacent with hazards we’re regularly exposed to. It’s important to remind workers about the importance of day-to-day measures, like LOTO, by initiating two-way communication and rewarding safe behaviors.
Furthermore, irregular protocols (like emergency protocols), require occasional simulation training to ensure that memory isn’t lost.
Change Your Perspective
02/06/2026
Incident investigations: are you looking on the bright side?
Event-learning takes humility. You have to admit the mistakes of your team and your system, which can happen right under your nose.
This can be frustrating, but it’s important to remember the purpose of investigations: to learn and improve! Every causal factor that you find brings you one step closer to a robust set of corrective actions.
So, during your next incident investigation, remember: you’re not dwelling on mistakes; you’re strengthening your systems!
Fishy Judgement
01/30/2026
“I would NEVER take a shortcut like that!”
That sounds fishy! 🎣
Actor-observer bias is a mental heuristic everyone experiences.
It’s the tendency to explain others’ mistakes due to internal factors, like personality or competence, but to justify our own errors with external factors, like deadlines or workload.
The hard truth is that we’re all tempted by shortcuts. Internal characteristics play a role in our decision-making, but incidents will happen again and again if there are too many external factors enticing unsafe behaviors.
If your workforce is taking shortcuts, don’t be so quick to reel the investigation in. Correct systemic faults before jumping into disciplinary action.
In the Background
01/23/2026
Just because operations are running…
Doesn’t mean they’re running smoothly! 😭
We’ve seen too many companies fall into this cycle: equipment breaks, maintenance fixes it, only for it to break for the exact same reasons again.
Do your technicians a favor and investigate your equipment failures more closely:
✏️ Document Every Failure
Your investigation team can’t fix the dots without the necessary information.
It might be tempting to get your operations back online as quickly as possible, but take a few minutes to document anything that breaks. It’ll help your team find patterns later down the line.
📋 Audit Equipment Use
You don’t need to wait for something to break to gather meaningful information.
Proactive audits can give you deep insights about how equipment is used, day-to-day operations, company culture, and the relationships among them.
🔍 Look Beyond “Operator Error”
Teams often end their investigations at “operator error” without considering how to improve human performance.
If you discover equipment is being used incorrectly, don’t be so quick to jump into disciplinary action. Dive deeper!
The Saw Blade Doesn’t Care
01/16/2026
“I’ve done this job a million times!”
Tell that to the saw blade. 🪚
The Illusion of Safety in Familiarity is a simple but important concept: as we become more acquainted with a hazard, we’re more likely to become complacent with the level of danger.
Whether it’s a saw blade, heavy equipment, toxic chemical, long height, et cetera, we can counter this illusion systemically:
🤝 Remove the Blame
Watching for any signs of complacency is important, but responding in a fair way is arguably more impactful.
Everyone has these biases. Instead of punishing workers who fall into these mental traps, we should ask ourselves how to better emphasize SPAC.
🤔 Explain the Importance
Training and learning resources shouldn’t only communicate WHAT to do; they should express WHY these steps are important.
If we don’t teach workers the reasoning behind the procedures, protocol is nothing more than a formality.
🛡️ Mitigate the Risks
The most consistent way to avoid injuries related to human error is to make procedural violations as physically difficult as possible.
That may seem obvious, but have you applied this logic to your own workplace? How easy is it for someone to get hurt?
Everyone Makes Mistakes!
01/09/2026
Let’s take a moment to laugh at ourselves and remember imperfection makes us human.
You can watch the entire blooper reel here.
What is Love?
01/02/2026
This week’s joke is a video! Hope you enjoy!
Over the past year, we’ve been collecting clips of bloopers and other funny behind-the-scenes moments like this one. If you’re interested to see that video when it releases, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel:
A Job or a Punishment?
12/19/2025
Dealing with repeat incidents? Now you know how Sisyphus feels! 🪨
For deceiving the Greek gods, Sisyphus was punished with eternal labor in the underworld. The job, pushing an enormous boulder up a mountain, was designed to feel tedious and pointless. Every time he neared the summit, the boulder fell — restarting the cycle!
If you can relate as an investigator, we have a few suggestions:
📊 Audit Your Findings
Generic causes, or systemic causes, are root problems that contribute to repeat incidents. If you’re not cataloging every investigation and audit, you can’t find and analyze any overlapping information later!
👔 Involve Management
Your investigation will only go as far as leadership will allow. It’s important for management to understand the entire process, so they can act as a facilitator instead of a hinderance.
💭 Rethink Your Process
Not every root cause analysis methodology was made equally! If investigators are struggling to dig deeply and find all the facts, consider using a stronger toolset (like TapRooT® RCA!).
Cramped Corners
12/12/2025
Root cause: cramped quarters! 🎅
While Santa can magically squeeze his way through tight chimneys, remember a workspace that’s too small can hurt coordination, productivity, or workers themselves.
Stay safe this holiday season!
