Cause assessments

A causal factor is a condition that contributed to the incident. For example, a work environment that was not clean could be a causal factor. The incident record displays the cause of an incident. Causes are of one of these types:

• Root cause - the underlying or fundamental reason why an incident occurred. If the root cause had not been present, then the issue would not have occurred. An incident can have only one root cause.
• Direct cause - an unsafe act or unsafe condition that resulted in the incident.
• Indirect cause, also called dotted-line cause - an indirect cause of the incident. For example, poor management policies and decisions can be indirect causes.