Root cause analysis is frequently employed by litigants and expert witnesses to help them determine the root causes of accidents, IT failures, medical malpractice, etc.
An excellent article “The Purpose, Process, and Protection of a Post-Accident Root Cause Analysis” appeared in the July 2019 issue of In the Defense.
The authors, as the title suggests, concentrate on how defendants can avoid having the analysis become discoverable and used against them at trial.
The authors suggest five major strategies:
- Add a disclaimer to the root clause analysis
- Add an attorney to the root cause analysis team
- Include at the top of each form: Prepared in Anticipation of Litigation
- Consider verbal as opposed to written reports
- Limit the distribution of the documents.
For additional information see: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjvhq3UwfHjAhVKmuAKHUUhBbUQFjAAegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youngmoorelaw.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FFor-The-Defense-20-23-Dana-Hoffman.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0U9dNqWvbGGldqJ1ggWE9i
