How to Define an Undesirable Event for a Formal RCFA Analysis
Completing the Problem Statement and Definition
The Undesirable Event is a specific Failure, event, or incident or a chronic condition. There are two main categories that trigger an undesirable event namely the sporadic events and chronic events.
Sporadic events are normally once-off failures that lead to a high consequence event. Chronic
failures occur over a period of time and may accumulate to become a situation that becomes
unacceptable to the organization.
Once a trigger for an undesirable event has occurred, the follow steps are followed as presented in the diagram below:
How to Register and Define an Undesirable Event:
- Click the Undesirable Event tab. This is the next step after adding the Review Group.
- The Analysis Summary will be carried over from the Review Group.
- Navigate to the Undesirable Event section and define the undesirable event by identifying the equipment and/or process on which the event or failure happened.
- Specify Where, with relevant detail, the Event occurred.
- Using the calendar to specify the Date and Time of the event. Below is an example of a problem statement for an undesirable event.
- Provide objective Evidence of Failure leading up to, during and after the event as prompted by uploading documents or images.
- Click one of the radio buttons to upload a document or image, by selecting "Upload to Server" or "Upload to Database".
Uploading to Server:A document can be loaded to a server location and a link is created as a reference.Uploading to Database:A document can be uploaded into the database where a copy is stored. Depending on the file size, this option can increase the size of the database.
- Select “Choose File”.
- Locate the file and select "Open" and the file will be displayed.
- In the Pattern or Trade section, Use the dropdown menu to assign a Pattern or Trend that may have led to the failure. The description of that Pattern will auto-fill from the Base File data in the blank field.
- In the Notes and Progress Details, capture any additional notes about the undesirable event.
- Click Save and click here to read about how to add the Problem Details as the next step in the RCFA analysis.
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