Page 66 - Root Cause Failure Analysis

Root Cause Failure Analysis Methodology 57

Investigator or Investigating Team Description
This section should include a list and descriptions of the personnel involved in the
investigation.

Review and Approval Team Description
RCFA reports always should be reviewed and approved before being distributed to
plant personnel. The approval chain will vary from plant to plant but should be estab-
lished before implementing a RCFA. The review process is important in that it will
reduce the potential for errors or misinterpretation that is an inherent part of an inves-
tigation process.

Distribution
Include a list of the plant personnel, including appropriate contractors, who should
receive a copy of the final report.

VERIFY CORRECTIVE ACTION
Once the corrective action has been approved and implemented, the final task required
for a thorough RCFA is to verify that the corrective action actually fixed the problem.
After the recommended corrective action has been implemented, a series of confirma-
tion tests should be conducted to ensure reliable operation of the corrected application
or machine.

For most common plant machinery, a well-planned, multichannel real-time vibration
analysis should confirm the corrective action. A series of vibration measurements can
be developed and implemented to measure the operating dynamics of the new or mod-
ified installation. The series should include the full operating envelope of the system,
including any changes in operating practices that were part of the recommendation.
The results of this test series will confirm the validity of the corrections and provide
assurance that the modified system operates reliably.