scope:

3 This International Standard describes the basic principles of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and 184 specifies the steps that a process for RCA should include. This International Standard identifies a number of attributes for RCA techniques which assist with the selection of an appropriate technique. It describes each RCA technique and its relative strengths and weaknesses. RCA is used to analyse focus events that have occurred, therefore this International Standard only covers a posteriori analyses. It is recognised that some of the RCA techniques with adaptation could be used proactively in the design and development of items and for causal analysis during risk assessment; however, this International Standard focuses on the analysis of events which have occurred. The intent of this International Standard is to explain the techniques to identify root causes. 194 These techniques are not designed to assign responsibility or liability, which is outside the 195 scope of this International Standard.