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It clarifies what counts as a root cause: an identifiable cause, a cause management can influence, and a cause that enables actionable recommendations to prevent recurrence. The template guides teams through structured “why” questioning from direct to contributing factors, and includes prompts to document departments, events, documentation, staffing levels, communications, and equipment failures for review and final RCA outcomes.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":36,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/forms/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/root-cause-analysis-template-underlying-causes-and-contributing-factors/244636/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/root-cause-analysis-template-underlying-causes-and-contributing-factors/244636.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Aria Callaghan","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-23","2026-09-12",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":15},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"What is the purpose of a Root Cause Analysis (RCA)?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"RCA helps develop a quality improvement plan for specific service-delivery areas by identifying underlying causes and enabling prevention-focused recommendations.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What qualifies as a root cause in this template?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"A root cause is an underlying cause that can be reasonably identified, is under management control, and supports effective recommendations to prevent recurrence.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the template help teams move from direct causes to root causes?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"It instructs teams to ask “why” repeatedly: first about what caused the direct cause, then about why that occurred, until the root cause is found and can be linked to a concrete improvement plan.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},244636,1789220240,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":35,"category_name":36,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":15,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":125,"read_time":76},962084926284,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","PURPOSE:  \nA Root Cause Analysis assists in the development of a quality improvement plan for specific areas of service delivery.  \nWHAT IS A ROOT CAUSE?  \n􀂃 Root causes are underlying causes.  \n􀂃 Root causes are those that can reasonably be identified.  \n􀂃 Root causes are those management has control to fix.  \n􀂃 Root causes are those for which effective recommendations for preventing recurrences can be generated.  \nRoot causes are underlying causes. The goal should be to identify specific underlying causes. The more specific the team can be about why an event occurred, the easier it will be to arrive at recommendations that will prevent recurrence.  \nRoot causes are those that can reasonably be identified. Occurrence investigations must be cost beneficial. It is not practical to keep valuable staff members occupied indefinitely searching for the root causes of occurrences. Structured Root Cause Analysis (RCA) helps the team get the most out of the time they have invested in the investigation.  \nRoot causes are those over which management has control. The team should avoid using general cause classifications such as operator error, equipment failure or external factor. Such causes are not specific enough to allow management to make effective changes. Management needs to know exactly why a failure occurred before action can be taken to prevent recurrence. We must also identify a root cause that management can influence. For example, identifying “severe weather” as the root cause of medications not being delivered on time to the consumer is not appropriate. Severe weather is not controlled by management.  \nRoot causes are those for which effective recommendations can be generated. Recommendations should directly address the root causes identified during the investigation. If the team arrives at vague recommendations such as,“Improve adherence to written policies and procedures,” then they probably have not found a basic and specific enough cause and need to expend more effort in the analysis process.  \nINSTRUCTIONS:  \nThe following template is designed to assist in determining the underlying cause(s) of an operational failure. Asking “why”something happened, or did not happen, is the best place to start. In many cases, the most obvious cause is the “direct cause”. To determine contributing factors, ask “why” the direct cause occurred. For example, the boat sank because it had a hole in the bottom. In this example, the hole in the boat is the direct cause. In a root cause analysis, asking why is the next step. In this example, the boat had a hole because the repairperson did not know the boat had a hole that needed to be fixed. This would be a contributing factor. Asking why the repairperson did not know the boat had a hole to be fixed, we learn the root cause of the problem. The boat repair company does not have a system to track required repairs and the need to repair the hole was forgotten.  \nFill in the blank sections below for each category. In some cases, an individual category may not be involved. If that occurs, leave the section blank and move to the next set of questions. When complete, review your work to identify the root cause(s) for the event. The root cause(s) will become the basis for your Quality Improvement Plan.  \nContributing Factor-Departments  \n\n| Level of Analysis | Questions/Factors Involved | Findings and Opportunities to Improve |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| What happened? | What departments were involved? |  |\n|  | Describe events(s) |  |\n| Why did it happen? | What was the missing or weak step in the process? |  |\n| Why did that happen? | What caused the missing or weak step in the process? |  |\n| Why did that happen? | What is currently done to prevent failure at this step? |  |\n\nContributing Factor-Documentation  \n\n| Level of Analysis | Questions/Factors Involved | Findings and Opportunities to Improve |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Why did it happen? | Was the documentation available?\u003Cbr>Was the documentation ap","cbCaiiFCBjSl0Kx0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiFCBjSl0Kx0","pdf",263897,8,"English","# Purpose and Definition\n## What is a root cause?\n# Instructions for Using the Template\n## Asking “why” to reach direct and root causes\n# Contributing Factors Template\n## Departments\n## Documentation\n## Staffing levels\n## Communications\n## Equipment","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of a Root Cause Analysis (RCA)?\",\"answer\":\"RCA helps develop a quality improvement plan for specific service-delivery areas by identifying underlying causes and enabling prevention-focused recommendations.\"},{\"question\":\"What qualifies as a root cause in this template?\",\"answer\":\"A root cause is an underlying cause that can be reasonably identified, is under management control, and supports effective recommendations to prevent recurrence.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the template help teams move from direct causes to root causes?\",\"answer\":\"It instructs teams to ask “why” repeatedly: first about what caused the direct cause, then about why that occurred, until the root cause is found and can be linked to a concrete improvement plan.\"}]","Root Cause Analysis Template - Underlying Causes and Contributing Factors | PDF"]