Root cause analysis finds the systemic reason a non-conformance happened, not just the visible symptom, so the corrective action holds up at the next audit. The two tools that do most of the work are the 5 Whys and the fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram. ASC teaches RCA online at three depths: a 4-hour overview, an 8-hour one-day course and a 16-hour two-day course.
- 5 Whys
- Fishbone diagram
- Correction vs corrective action
- Fault trees and 8D
- CAPA that holds
Choose your level
The same core method at three depths. Match the course to who is taking it and how much of the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) system they own.
Prices are in South African rand. The smaller figures under each price are indicative conversions at today’s exchange rate. You pay in rand and your bank sets the final rate.
An Overview of Root Cause Analysis
The fast, practical route to the 5 Whys and the fishbone diagram, for anyone who needs the core toolkit this week.
- Introduction to root cause analysis
- RCA and continuous improvement
- Methods and techniques for RCA
- Teamwork in an investigation
R649Online, self-paced · certificate on completion
View the course
Root Cause Analysis 1-Day Course
The same method worked through properly, with more examples, more practice and a full learner manual, for QA staff who lead investigations.
- Symptoms, direct causes and root causes
- RCA in continuous improvement
- The 5 Whys and fishbone in depth
- Leading an investigation team
R1 250Online, self-paced · certificate on completion
View the course
Conducting a Root Cause Analysis (2 days)
The full investigation method on one running case study, for QA managers and auditors who lead investigations across sites and suppliers.
- What the standards and the law require
- Evidence, timelines, human factors and interviewing
- Fishbone, why-trees, fault trees and change analysis
- Verifying the root cause and CAPA that works
R2 350Online, self-paced · certificate on completion
View the courseRoot cause analysis bundle: overview and one-day course
R1 519 instead of R1 899 for both courses, a saving of R380.
| Overview | 1-Day Course | 2-Day Course | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | R649 | R1 250 | R2 350 |
| Duration | 4 hours | 8 hours | 2 days (16 hours) |
| Level | Basic | Intermediate | Advanced |
| Best for | Anyone who needs the core toolkit fast | QA staff who lead investigations | Auditors and managers running multi-site CAPA |
| Covers | 5 Whys, fishbone, correction vs corrective vs preventive action | The same methods in more depth, with more practice | Evidence, human factors, fault trees, verification, CAPA, 8D and FMEA on one case study |
Training a team? ASC runs group enrolments and custom workshops for food manufacturers, packhouses and retailers. Get a group quote.
Why this is the training worth getting right
Ineffective root cause analysis is one of the most common non-conformances raised by certification bodies. A site documents the finding, records a corrective action and moves on. A year later the auditor is back and the same problem has recurred, because the investigation stopped at the symptom instead of the system behind it.
| Standard | Where root cause analysis sits |
|---|---|
| ISO 9001 | Clause 10.2, nonconformity and corrective action |
| FSSC 22000 and ISO 22000 | The corrective action requirements, clause 10.1 of ISO 22000 |
| BRCGS Food Safety | Clause 3.7, corrective and preventive actions, a fundamental requirement |
| IFS Food and SQF | Their corrective action clauses |
| HACCP (Codex) | Principle 5, corrective action |
| ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 | Clause 10.2, nonconformity and corrective action |
The cost of skipping it: a recurring finding is what pushes a certification body to escalate a minor non-conformance to a major one. Every day the same problem keeps happening, it costs money.
The 5 Whys, worked through a real example
Developed by Sakichi Toyoda and used throughout the Toyota Production System, the 5 Whys is the simplest RCA tool there is: keep asking why until you reach a cause your organisation can actually fix.
- ProblemA customer complained that a biscuit contained a small piece of metal.
- Why 1A metal fragment passed the metal detector without being rejected.
- Why 2The detector sensitivity was set too low for the product size.
- Why 3Sensitivity was last verified eight months ago, not at each shift change.
- Why 4The verification SOP only requires weekly checks, not shift-change checks.
- Why 5The SOP was written in 2019 and never updated when a new high-volume product was introduced.
- RootThe management of change procedure never triggered a review of metal detector verification. A document control gap, not an operator error.
Stop at why 1 and the corrective action is “reject the fragment”, which fixes nothing. Only the fifth why reaches the system weakness that actually needs fixing.
Five is a guideline, not a target. Stop when the cause is something your management system can control, not “human nature” or “bad luck”.
Read more in Human error is not a root cause.
The fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram and the 6Ms
Developed by Kaoru Ishikawa, the fishbone diagram sorts every possible cause of a problem into standard categories, so a team brainstorm is systematic instead of scattered.
Some teams add Management and Money as a seventh and eighth M. The courses cover when the extra categories earn their place and when they only add noise.
| Type | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Correction | Deals with the immediate symptom | Quarantine and destroy the contaminated batch |
| Corrective action | Removes the root cause so it does not recur | Redesign the sanitation programme, retrain and add a verification step |
| Preventive action | Stops a similar problem before it starts | Check every other line for the same weakness |
This is the distinction most candidates fumble at audit. ISO 9001:2015 folded preventive action into risk-based thinking, but the idea has not gone away.
The eight-step RCA process
- Define the problem“Customer complaint” is not a problem statement. A date, a product and a specific defect is.
- Contain the riskQuarantine, recall, isolate or inform, whatever protects people while the investigation runs.
- Assemble the teamCross-functional, including the people closest to the process.
- Gather the factsTimeline, records, witness statements and data logs. Fact, not assumption.
- Identify causesUse the 5 Whys and the fishbone to find every candidate cause.
- Verify the root causeWould removing it actually prevent the problem recurring?
- ActTargeted, documented, time-bound corrective action owned by a named person.
- Verify effectivenessClose the CAPA only when evidence shows the problem is gone, often three to six months later.
Ten mistakes that get RCA written up at audit
- Stopping at the first plausible cause, especially the easy one to fix
- Blaming a person: “operator error” is almost never the root cause
- Treating correction as if it were corrective action
- Closing a CAPA the week it opened, with no effectiveness check
- One person investigating alone
- A rushed investigation an auditor can spot at once
- Relying on “I think” and “we remember” instead of evidence
- “Retrain staff” used as a catch-all action
- Not noticing it is the fourth time in twelve months
- Never asking where else this could happen
Other RCA methods worth knowing
- Pareto analysis, to prioritise which problems to tackle first
- Fault tree analysis, for safety-critical failures
- FMEA, to find failure modes before they occur
- 8D problem solving, standard in automotive and aerospace supply chains
- DMAIC, the Six Sigma improvement framework
- A3 thinking, the one-page Toyota problem-solving format
- Kepner-Tregoe, structured problem and decision analysis
The Overview and 1-Day courses focus on the 5 Whys and the fishbone. Fault trees, FMEA and 8D are in the 2-Day course. Compare them in RCA tools compared.
What is actually in the course
The Overview and 1-Day courses share the same four modules, with the 1-Day course going deeper on every lesson. The 2-Day course follows one case study from start to finish.
Introduction to root cause analysis
What RCA is, the problem-solving process, and correction, corrective and preventive action.
RCA and continuous improvement
Why every non-conformance is a chance to improve: the continuous improvement model and PDCA.
Methods and techniques
The core of the course: the 5 Whys with worked examples and pitfalls, the fishbone and brainstorming.
The importance of teamwork
What makes a team, managing conflict, and moving from blame to fixing systems.
The 2-Day course, module by module
- Foundations: why RCA fails, and what good looks like
- What the standards and the law require
- Defining the problem and containing it
- Evidence, data and the timeline
- People in the system: human factors and interviewing
- Brainstorming and the fishbone diagram
- The 5 Whys and the why-tree
- Cause charts, fault trees, barriers and change analysis
- Selecting and verifying the root cause
- Corrective and preventive action that actually works
Who this training is for
- QA and QC managers investigating production and lab non-conformances
- Food safety managers and HACCP team leaders managing CAPA
- Internal auditors evaluating whether RCA is effective
- Production supervisors and managers responding to deviations
- Maintenance and engineering teams solving recurring failures
- Quality representatives running ISO 9001 systems
- Environmental, health and safety coordinators under ISO 14001 or ISO 45001
- Consultants delivering CAPA and management system projects
- Anyone working towards FSSC 22000, BRCGS, IFS, SQF or ISO 9001 certification
Questions people actually ask
What is root cause analysis (RCA)?
Root cause analysis is a structured method for finding the underlying reason a non-conformance, deviation or complaint happened, rather than stopping at the obvious symptom. You keep asking why until you reach a cause your management system can control, then fix that. It is a documented expectation in ISO 9001, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, IFS, SQF and HACCP-based systems.
Is root cause analysis mandatory in ISO 9001, FSSC 22000 and BRCGS?
Yes. ISO 9001:2015 clause 10.2 requires it for nonconformities, FSSC 22000 requires it through its corrective action requirements, and BRCGS Food Safety clause 3.7 requires it for corrective and preventive actions. Auditors check that the investigation reached a genuine root cause, not a plausible-sounding one.
What is the difference between the Overview, 1-Day and 2-Day courses?
The Overview (FS35, R649, about 4 hours, Basic) introduces the 5 Whys and the fishbone quickly. The 1-Day Course (R1 250, 8 hours, Intermediate) covers the same methods in far more depth, with more worked examples, for QA staff who lead investigations. The 2-Day course (R2 350, 16 hours, Advanced) takes the full investigation method further: evidence and timelines, human factors, fault trees, verifying the root cause and CAPA, all on one running case study.
What is the difference between correction and corrective action?
A correction deals with the immediate symptom, for example quarantining a contaminated batch. A corrective action removes the root cause so the problem does not recur, for example redesigning the sanitation programme and adding a verification step. Treating a correction as a corrective action is one of the most common audit findings.
Is this appropriate if I am not in the food industry?
Yes. The 5 Whys, the fishbone and PDCA come from manufacturing and apply equally to pharma, engineering, logistics, healthcare and IT. The courses use food industry examples, but the techniques transfer without modification.
How does this compare with a Six Sigma Green Belt?
A Green Belt is much longer, typically 40 hours or more, and covers statistical tools, DMAIC and project management. ASC’s RCA training focuses on root cause identification and CAPA, the skill management systems use most. Take a Green Belt for statistical process control; take this to close audit non-conformances properly.
Will this help me pass an ISO 9001 or FSSC 22000 audit?
It targets the finding auditors raise most often. The training is aligned with ISO 9001:2015 clause 10.2 and the corrective action requirements of FSSC 22000, BRCGS, IFS and SQF.
What is the pass mark for the assessments?
70% for each knowledge test and the final assessment, with multiple attempts allowed and feedback so you can close the gap.
I am new to quality and food safety. Is this too advanced?
No. The Overview course is at Basic level and builds up from the fundamentals of problem-solving. Prior quality experience is not required.
What other ASC courses pair well with RCA training?
HACCP for Supervisors and HACCP Teams for deviation management, Internal and Supplier Auditing for audit findings and CAPA, Food Fraud and Food Defence for incident investigation, and Food Safety and Quality Culture for moving a team from blame to learning.
Can I take these courses outside South Africa?
Yes. The courses are online, self-paced and in English, and root cause analysis works the same way under any standard in any country. Prices are in rand, with indicative conversions shown on this page.
Stop fixing symptoms. Start closing the file for good.
SAATCA, HPCSA and FoodBev SETA accredited training, online and self-paced, with a certificate for each course.
- OverviewR649, about 4 hours, the core toolkit.
- 1-Day CourseR1 250, 8 hours, for investigation leads.
- 2-Day CourseR2 350, 16 hours, the full method.
- BundleOverview and 1-Day together for R1 519.
This page is educational and does not constitute legal advice. Verify specific certification scheme requirements with your certification body. For CAPA system design, mock audits and on-site RCA facilitation, visit ascfoodsafety.com. Browse all ASC courses.
