Root Cause Analysis Tip – Who should be trained?

Happy Wednesday and welcome to this week’s root cause analysis tip.

This week, I wanted to give you my thoughts on a question I get asked often: who should our company train?

The answer to this question really lies in what is best for your company (your operation, culture, risks, etc.)

Since I can’t address a perfect solution that works for everyone, let me give you my general opinion:

The best-case scenario is to drive anything important (including root cause analysis) out to the operational level.  How your organization is structured will dictate how that works. In one company it may be front-line supervisors; in another it could be safety committee or quality circle/continuous improvement team members.  The key here is there is ownership for problems and results from everyone in the organization, not just the “safety guy/gal.”

If you are the Lone Ranger, you can make a difference, but you can make much more of a difference by being more of a mentor and facilitator and driving the message and knowledge out through the company.   Having root cause analysis and best practice knowledge in the operation not only helps with investigations, but it also helps people think more proactively in the everyday operation.

If your company is just starting a root cause analysis process, a good way to go about things is to have your core group attend the 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Training, and your operational level group attend the 2-Day TapRooT® Incident Investigation and Root Cause Analysis training.

One more thing; you will also want to make sure your management group is trained so they understand the process.  Either one of these courses would give them that understanding.

If you do take my advice and train a large group, we do onsite training at your facility as well.  If you would like information on that option, e-mail us at info@taproot.com or call us at 865-539-2139.

So don’t be the Lone Ranger, be a Game Changer (hey, that rhymes!).  Thanks for visiting the blog, and until next time, happy investigating.