Tag: preventive action

Ban the Blame

One of the key requirements of the OHSAS 18001 standard is establishing a procedure for taking corrective and preventive action (section 4.5.3.2).  Both corrective and preventive action need to include identifying the underlying causes – often called root causes – of whatever it is that is or went wrong. 

This is not easy.  Often, the root cause investigation ends with a determination along the lines of “Joe screwed up.”  We play the blame game.

Why?