Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in the Laboratory - Addressing Non-Conformances
When a laboratory non-conformance occurs, it's tempting to fix the symptom and move on. But if only the surface problem is fixed, it will almost certainly return. This 60-minute root cause analysis training gives you a defined set of steps and tools for finding the primary cause of a non-conformance in your lab.
You'll learn to define the problem, examine the data, identify possible causal factors and pinpoint the root cause or causes. The session then covers taking corrective action and verifying that it worked.
RCA assumes that systems and events are linked, so tracing actions back shows where a problem started and how it grew into the symptom you see.
- Determine what happened in a laboratory non-conformance
- Determine why it happened by tracing linked events back to their start
- Use a defined set of steps and tools to find the root cause
- Take corrective action that reduces the chance of recurrence
- Verify that the corrective action was effective
- Defining the problem
- Examining the data
- Identifying possible causal factors
- Identifying the root cause or causes
- Taking corrective action
- Verifying the effectiveness of the corrective action
Treating symptoms means fixing the same laboratory problem again and again. Looking deeper lets you correct the underlying systems and processes that caused the non-conformance and lowers the chance that it happens again.
This session suits microbiologists, QA managers, laboratory managers and supervisors, and QC practitioners who investigate lab non-conformances.
This webinar will provide valuable assistance to:
- Microbiologists
- QA managers
- Laboratory managers
- Laboratory supervisors
- QC practitioners
Michael Brodsky has been an Environmental Microbiologist for more than 41 years. He is a Past President of the Ontario Food Protection Association and AOAC International. He serves as Chair for the AOAC Expert Review Committee for Microbiology, as a scientific reviewer in Microbiology for the AOAC OMA and the AOAC Research Institute, as a reviewer for Standard Method for the Examination of Water and as a chapter editor on QA for the Compendium of Methods in Microbiology. He is also a lead auditor/assessor in microbiology for the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation (CALA) and is a member of the Board of Directors.
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