A root cause analysis is a careful and structured study
A root cause analysis is a careful and structured study of the factors that caused an event or occurrence to learn from it and to prevent it from happening again. When there is a harmful consequence or an undesirable outcome, all of the factors contributing to it happening are studied including its nature, its location and magnitude and the timing.
Past events are analyzed in a root cause analysis to identify the actions, behaviours and even inaction that contributed to the unhappy outcome so that lessons are learned for future better performance.