About Hypothesis States

RCA Hypotheses are assigned a state that indicates the validity of the hypothesis. When a Hypothesis node is first created, it is assigned the Hypothesis state by default.

Tip: You can add your own Hypothesis state and assign it an image by updating the RCA Hypothesis State System Code Table in Configuration Manager.

After the hypothesis has been tested through the completion of an RCA Verification, the state of the Hypothesis node can then be changed to True or Not True. If a hypothesis is proven to be incorrect, after you change the Hypothesis state to Not True, you are finished working with that hypothesis. If a hypothesis is proven to be true and you change the Hypothesis state to True, you can:

Create additional RCA Hypothesis records that provide further information on a root cause and link them to the RCA Hypothesis.
Create RCA Verifications to test the additional hypotheses, determine if the hypotheses are true or not true, and then change the state of the associated RCA Hypothesis records accordingly.
Create additional RCA Verifications to test the hypothesis to further identify the root cause as physical, human, or latent.

After the root cause has been identified, you can change the state of the associated RCA Hypothesis to indicate your conclusions (i.e., Cause Human, Cause Latent, or Cause Physical).

When you change the state of a Hypothesis node, the node icon changes to indicate the new state. The following table describes all the possible states of an RCA Hypothesis and how the associated Hypothesis node will appear in the Logic Tree.

Hypothesis State	Description	For example, the team may determine that:
Hypothesis	The hypothesis is proposed and no conclusions can be drawn at this point. This is the default state.	The piece of equipment may have failed due to a pressure leak.
Hypothesis True	The hypothesis has been tested and proven to be correct. Further conclusions can be drawn.	The piece of equipment failed due to a pressure leak.
Hypothesis Not True	The hypothesis has been tested and proven to be incorrect. No further conclusions can be drawn.	The piece of equipment did not fail due to a pressure leak.
Cause Human	The hypothesis has been proven correct and further testing has revealed that the root cause of the Failure Event was caused by human interaction.	The operator failed to increase the pressure when it reached the critical level, therefore causing a pressure leak and the failure.
Cause Latent	The hypothesis has been proven correct and further testing has revealed that the root cause of the Failure Event was caused by flaw(s) in procedure or the system that caused incorrect decisions to be made. This is often due to poor data or communication between individuals within the organization. In the vast majority of events, there will be at least one latent cause.	Management failed to adhere to the recommended safety guidelines for the piece of equipment, thus the operator failed to increase the pressure when it reached the critical level, causing the pressure leak and the failure.
Cause Physical	The hypothesis has been proven correct, and further testing has revealed that the root cause of the Failure Event was caused by a physical piece of equipment.	The seals on the pressure relief valve are worn and require replacement, which caused the pressure leak and the failure.