Articles

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The Pro’s and Con’s of Using Pre-Existing Logic in Root Cause Analysis (RCA) By Robert J. Latino, CEO, Reliability Center, Inc. Abstract: There has been an ongoing debate for decades as to whether or not the use of pre-existing logic for conducting Root Cause Analyses helps or hinders the analysis results. Does the use of such pre-existing logic expand the thinking

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In order to know if all RCA is the same, we first have to define ‘What is RCA?’ On the surface, this seems quite simple, but unfortunately, it is quite complex. When I train or present speeches around the world, I often poll my audiences about how they define ‘RCA’. The fact is I will get as many answers, as I have people

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What is ‘Reliability Engineering’​? I have been very involved recently with ongoing LI discussions with respected and noted experts in the Safety community, revolving around the perceptions those in Safety have of Reliability, and vice-versa. In Safety today, there are ‘new’ approaches emerging being lead by noted Safety researchers like Sidney Dekker, Erik Hollnagel and Todd Conklin. Such ‘new’ approaches

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“Preventing process accidents requires vigilance. The passing of time without a process accident is not necessarily an indication that all is well and may contribute to a dangerous and growing sense of complacency. When people lose an appreciation of how their safety systems were intended to work, safety systems and controls can deteriorate, lessons can be forgotten, and hazards and deviations from safe

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Much has been written about James Reason’s original Swiss Cheese Model described in his book Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents. Figure 1 is a basic representation of this model. Many today consider this model to be obsolete because of the evolving complexity of systems due to emerging technologies. Therefore, the linearity of failure expressed in this original model, is not as

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Is System’s Thinking Critical to Root Cause Analysis’s (RCA) Success? Put another way, can RCA be successful without the incorporation of system’s thinking? What prompted this question was that according to Drs. Leveson and Dekker in their 2014 paper Get To The Root of Accidents, systems thinking is not currently utilized in the application of RCA. In this paper they cite:

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Why Can’t Learning Teams (LT) and RCA Teams be Friends? A Little History About How I Came Across Learning Teams. A little over three years ago I was asked to speak at a conference that was entitled, Human Performance, Root Cause and Trending or HPRCT (great conference BTW and I encourage you to attend). This was a different world for me as I typically

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So what does it mean to be ‘safe’? Is a company ‘safe’ because they have not had an OSHA recordable injury in say over a one year period? Does that mean they will continue to be ‘safe’ in the next year? Does it mean they are at a higher risk of an incident in the near term, because they weren’t

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Originally published August 31, 2017.

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Since lubricating oil can oxidize, so can the base oil in grease.  When the grease oxidizes, it usually darkens; there is a build-up of acidic oxidation products, just as in other lubrications.  These products can have a destructive effect on the thickener, causing softening, oil bleeding, and leakage.  Because grease does not conduct heat easily, serious oxidation can begin at

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There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies, all of those who have done well under the old conditions, and luke-warm defenders in those who will do well under

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Does regulatory compliance with RCA guidelines ensure operational reliability? Operational Reliability involves the aggregation of Equipment, Process and Human Reliability methods and techniques. What is the difference between troubleshooting, problem solving and root cause analysis? Are the outcomes different when we use The 5-Whys, The Fishbone or a Logic Tree? Can deficiencies in our approach to RCA increase the risk