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ROOT CAUSE FAILURE ANALYSIS
Reliability engineering and predictive maintenance have two major objectives:
preventing catastrophic failures of critical plant production systems and avoiding deviations from acceptable performance levels that result in personal injury, environmental impact, capacity loss, or poor product quality.
Unfortunately, these events will occur no matter how effective the reliability program. Therefore, a viable program also must include a process for fully understanding and correcting the root causes that lead to events having an impact on plant performance
ROOT CAUSE FAILURE ANALYSIS
PART ONE
Introduction to Root Cause Failure Analysis, presents analysis techniques used to investigate and resolve reliability-related problems. It provides the basic methodology for conducting a root cause failure analysis (RCFA). The procedures defined in this section should be followed for all investigations.
Provides specific design, installation, and operating parameters for particular types of plant equipment. This information is mandatory for all equipment-related problems, and it is extremely useful for other events as well. Since many of the chronic problems that occur in process plants are directly or indirectly influenced by the operating dynamics of machinery and systems, this part provides invaluable guidelines for each type of analysis.
Is a troubleshooting guide for most of the machine types found in a plant. This part includes quick-reference tables that define the common failure or deviation modes. These list are the common symptoms of machine and process related problems and identify the probable cause(s).
The Purpose of RCFA
The purpose of RCFA is to resolve problems that affect plant performance. It should not be an attempt to & blame for the incident.
The purpose of RCFA is to resolve problems that affect plant performance. It should not be an attempt to & blame for the incident.
This must be clearly understood by the investigating team and those involved in the process. Understanding that the investigation is not an attempt to fix blame is important for two reasons.
First, the investigating team must understand that the real benefit of this analytical methodology is plant improvement.
Second, those involved in the incident generally will adopt a self-preservation attitude and assume that the investigation is intended to find and punish the person or persons responsible for the incident.
Therefore, it is important for the investigators to allay this fear and replace it with the positive team effort required to resolve the problem.
Effective use of RCFA requires discipline and consistency. Each investigation must be thorough and each of the steps defined in this program must be followed.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the analysis is separating fact from fiction. Human nature dictates that everyone involved in an event or incident that requires a RCFA is conditioned by his or her experience. The natural tendency of those involved is to filter input data based on this conditioning.
This includes the investigator. However, often such preconceived ideas and perceptions destroy the effectiveness of RCFA. It is important for the investigator or investigating team to put aside its perceptions, base the analysis on pure fact, and not assume anything.
Any assumptions that enter the analysis process through interviews and other data-gathering processes should be clearly stated. Assumptions that cannot be confirmed or proven must be discarded.
