Root Cause Analysis Demonstrates Solid Safety Results and ROI

Contributed by Star Conrad, Director of Operations, Evergreen Safety Council

As a safety professional, Root Cause Analysis (RCA) will help you identify and remove the causes of serious incidents — from fatalities to near misses. RCA can help you:

• Promote a strong safety record — a competitive differentiator
• Minimize time-consuming inspections and regulatory investigations
• Build trust with shop and plant-floor workers, while demonstrating solid results to leadership
• Move beyond human error to solutions that control systemic causes

Sologic benefits

Formerly Apollo Associated Services, Sologic provides Root Cause Analysis (RCA) training, software and services to help you eliminate ongoing problems and major incidents.  Our solution suite is built on over 20 years of field experience with clients around the globe. After listening to our clients’ needs, we have recently introduced a new suite of offerings that includes:

• A more logical RCA method
• Cause and effect theory that is more intuitive
• More robust and user-friendly software
• Results that are faster and more powerful 

Root Cause Analysis Classes offered at the Evergreen Safety Training Center

RCA Analyst Level 1 - Facilitator

RCA Analyst Level 2 - Master Facilitator

More than 99% of our public seminar students say their new RCA skills are valuable and marketable, and would recommend the course to colleagues. 

The next Sologic RCA course is February 28-29 in Seattle, WA.  Seats are filling up fast, so register soon.  In this two-day RCA Analyst Level 1: Facilitator workshop, students will learn to:  

• Effectively facilitate a Sologic RCA
• Create logical cause and effect charts that account for all causes and are supported with evidence
• Identify and implement effective solutions that will prevent problem recurrence
• Effectively communicate RCA findings and gain support for solutions     

We are also offering a third day of advanced training on March 1st - our RCA Analyst Level 2: Master Facilitator course provides expanded facilitation and program management skills.

We look forward to continuing to serve your RCA needs, and to seeing you and/or your colleagues in class - register now!  

• Clients tell us that when one of our students returns to work and completes just one RCA, the savings create an immediate 100% return on the training investment...and then some. 
• This is your opportunity to build your RCA skills & recommend the course to others who must also deliver cost savings as well as improvements in quality, safety, IT, processes and reliability.

Apollo Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Contributed by Star Conrad, Director of Operations, Evergreen Safety Council 
Have you attended ESC's safety certification series? Have you ever wondered what's next?
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) can help you gain a new perspective on safety:
• A structured form of problem solving
• Generally used after an undesired event has occurred
• Used to understand and control causes, and to prevent recurrence of the problem

Common RCA Techniques:
• 5 Why’s: a linear form of problem solving. The premise is that by asking why five times, the analyst will end up at the “root cause”. Why it’s ineffective: problems are non-liner, multiple things are happening at the same point in time and space. 5-Why’s is too simplistic to capture the whole picture. A good place to start to brainstorm a few causes, but not thorough enough to create a full understanding of the problem.
• Fishbone/Ishikawa Diagram: sometimes referred to as “cause & effect” diagrams, the Fishbone is a brainstorming tool where users try to come up with causes around a set of categories, usually Methods, Material, Manpower and Machinery or something similar. It too is a good tool to start brainstorming. Why it’s ineffective: does not show how causes relate to one another. You have no way of knowing which causes would be affected by certain solutions. Provides no framework to dig deeper into cause paths or even know where/when to stop. Teams vote on the “root cause”.

Apollo Root Cause Analysis:
• Based on true cause and effect logic. Consists of four simple steps: 1) Define the Problem, 2) Create the Cause & Effect chart, 3) Identify Solutions, and 4) Implement the Best Solutions. Start from the defined problem and look back in time, accounting for how causes relate to each other. All causes are backed by evidence and followed through to logical stopping points.

Benefits of Apollo RCA:
• Prevents analyses from stopping too soon
• Removes the “singular root cause” mentality by focusing on controlling numerous causes. This approach more greatly reduces the risk of the problem recurring.
• Highly marketable skill
• Provides quick return on training investment (ROI) – most students can more than pay for their entire on-site class of 25 students (~$12k) with the $ they save the company on their first RCA after class
• Comes with powerful software (RealityCharting) that helps students create better analyses and enables them to easily share results.
• Useful in any industry or discipline (safety, quality, IT, reliability etc.)
• Instructors also lead high-profile investigations in the field – bring these learnings into the classroom.

Register Today!
Root Cause Analysis for Practitioners
October 11-12, 2011
At the Evergreen Safety Training Center in Seattle

Safety & Health Solutions - February edition

Evergreen Safety Council produces a monthly newsletter covering a variety of safety topics. Each month we will provide a link here to the online PDF.

Inside this Issue:
Lead Article – Why is safety training for employees important?
People in Safety – Brion Beaver, Safety Manager, Cascade Natural Gas
Articles -
Another life saved because two individuals were trained in first aid/CPR
Tractor Safety
How to Brake-Release-Steer
Improve Response to Major Incidents with Better Preparedness and Training
Fun with Forklifts

You can also sign up to receive an electronic copy via email or hard copy via the mail. This link will also take you to a full archive with over four years of past issues.

So pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and read all about what's going on in the world of safety & health.

Safety & Health Solutions Newsletter - November edition

Evergreen Safety Council produces a monthly newsletter covering a variety of safety topics. Each month we will provide a link here to the online PDF.

Inside this Issue:
Lead Article – Improving Large Trucks & Bus Safety

People in Safety – Robin Robertson, Risk Manager, City of Renton

Articles -

CSA 2010 Basics

Preventing Back-Over Accidents in the Work Zone

Now that the dust has started to settle…

Make Yourself Visible

How to Use Your Seatbelts

Is “More Training” the Solution to Human Error? Part 1 of 3

Machine Guarding

Safety is Always in Season

You can also sign up to receive an electronic copy via email or hard copy via the mail. This link will also take you to a full archive with over four years of past issues.

So pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and read all about what's going on in the world of safety & health.

Free Apollo RCA Overview in Seattle

Date: July 13, 2010
Time: 3:00 pm
Price: Free
Location: Evergreen Safety Training Center
401 Pontius Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

Description: Learn the basics of the Apollo Root Cause Analysis method including how the four steps of Apollo RCA are applied using example problems, learn how the standard "off the shelf" RCA practices like the 5-Why's and Fishbone are inadequate and find out why Apollo RCA is superior in terms of creating a more complete understanding of the problem, uncovering more causes, and creating more solution opportunities.

Call our office to Register (800) 521-0778

The next Apollo RCA for Practitioners (two-day course) in Seattle is July 20 - 21 (Super User course offered on July 22 for those seeking more advanced skills)