Lectures / Incident Investigation and Root Cause
Incident Investigation and Root Cause
When something goes wrong, blame teaches nothing but root cause teaches everything. This lecture introduces a simple, repeatable investigation method that gets past the immediate cause to the system failures beneath, so the same incident cannot happen twice.
Lecture · Learning from Failure
A structured approach to tracing an incident back to its underlying causes.
What you will take away
By the end of this session you will understand the key principles behind learning from failure and be able to apply them to your own workplace with confidence. The lecture keeps the theory practical and connects every point back to the relevant EN standards and tools available across SafetyOrbit.
Watch and follow up
Live sessions are announced on the Training Calendar, and recordings are added to the Lectures library afterwards. To go deeper on the standards referenced here, visit the EN Standards Library.
A structured investigation traces an incident back through layers of contributing causes.
Frequently asked questions
What is root cause analysis in incident investigation?
It is a structured method for tracing an incident back past its immediate, visible cause to the underlying system failures that allowed it to happen, so the same failure mode can be corrected rather than just the immediate trigger.
Why does blaming a person rarely prevent a repeat incident?
Blame stops the investigation at “who,” while root cause analysis keeps asking “why” until it reaches a fixable system, process or design gap; punishing the individual leaves that underlying gap in place for the next person.
How many “whys” does a typical root cause investigation need?
There is no fixed number – the investigation continues asking why until it reaches a cause the organisation can actually control and fix, which is often three to five iterations but varies by incident.
Where can I find recordings of this lecture?
Recordings are added to the Lectures library after each live session, which is announced in advance on the Training Calendar.
Which standards does this lecture connect to?
It links investigation findings back to the relevant EN standards and tools covered elsewhere on SafetyOrbit, particularly wherever a hazard class or control identified during investigation has its own dedicated standard.