What is Root Cause Analysis about?

Root Cause Analysis, often wrongly referred to as 'Route' Cause Analysis, is a structured investigation that aims to identify the underlying cause of a defect or problem, and the countermeasures necessary to eliminate it.
Mistakes, errors, faults, waste and rework are diseases that infect every organisation reducing productivity and effectiveness while lowering morale throughout the workforce.
Underneath the 'cause' of a problem, the real cause is hidden.In every case we must dig up the real cause by asking why, why, why, why, why?
Often called the "hidden factory or office" which costs the organisation dear, management would like to track down the root causes for these problems and eliminate them entirely. Usually, individual members of staff are held to blame for these problems but it is often difficult to obtain good data on the types of error because people are frightened to offer information that they believe may be used against them.