When something goes wrong it may not be immediately clear why it happened. Without an understanding of the underlying cause of the problem it may not be clear what to do to prevent the issue from reoccurring. This could lead to audit non-conformities, adverse test results, product safety incidents, customer complaints and eventually damage a company’s reputation.

The solution is root cause analysis, a process that investigates the reason for any failure by using tools to identify the correct root cause.

Root cause analysis can be challenging. It can be difficult to complete thoroughly because it requires resources such as staff and time, and once preventive actions are in place they may need monitoring. This can take additional time and resources and if a site is stretched this can create further problems.

This guidance aims to:

·       provide good-practice to help sites carry out root cause analysis effectively

·       highlight the tools and investigative processes that are available

·       use examples to explain the type of documents, procedures and level of detail required

·       help sites create effective preventive action.

Who should use this publication?

This publication should be read by site managers, anyone with a role that focuses on quality assurance and members of the HACCP team.

Please note, this title comes in PDF format only.

Use of BRCGS intellectual property

Information on how you can use BRCGS Standards, guidance and published content can be found here. You can also find a list of answers to common question on how BRCGS content can be used here.