---
title: Perform root cause analysis for a safety incident
description: Perform a root cause analysis \(RCA\) for a safety incident as you go through its investigation.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/employee-service-management/health-and-safety-incident-management/perform-hs-root-cause-analysis.html
release: australia
product: Health and Safety Incident Management
classification: health-and-safety-incident-management
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Work on a safety incident, Manage incidents and observations, Manage, Health and Safety Incident Management, Health and Safety, Employee Service Management]
---

# Perform root cause analysis for a safety incident

Perform a root cause analysis \(RCA\) for a safety incident as you go through its investigation.

## Before you begin

Role required: sn\_ohs\_im.manager, sn\_ohs\_im.agent, or sn\_ohs\_im.operations\_manager

## About this task

The application includes the Five whys technique of root cause analysis. You can add as many root cause analyses as you need to an incident.

## Procedure

1.  Navigate to **All** > **Health and Safety** > **Health and Safety Workspace**.

2.  Open a safety incident assigned to you to add the root cause to.

3.  Select the **Report an incident** tab.

    The incident playbook opens.

4.  In the **Add root cause analysis** activity, fill in the fields in the Add root cause analysis section.

5.  In the **Problem** field, enter the problem statement.

6.  To identify the precise one underlying reason, ask why to each of the subsequent responses and enter in **Why?** fields.

7.  In the **Root cause** field, enter the answer to the last Why.

8.  Select **Save**.

9.  If necessary, add more root cause analysis for this incident.


## Result

The root cause analysis is listed in the Root cause analysis section of the activity. The root cause card also appears in the Root cause analysis section in the **Incident Overview** tab.

## What to do next

Add a corrective or preventive action based on your root cause analysis.

**Parent Topic:**[Work on a safety incident](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/employee-service-management/health-and-safety-incident-management/work-hs-incident-observation.md)