Re: Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) - Application - Preventive, Corrective or Risk Analysis
Fault Tree Analysis - This is a methodology for starting with an undesireable event , or fault, and tracing all of the initiating faults that must occur first in order for the top level fault to occur. Used primarily in Safety and Reliability Engineering.
Factor tree analysis probably refers to what is sometimes called a Causal Analysis, or Causal Factor Analysis, a technique based on displaying causal factors in a tree-structure such that cause-effect dependencies are clearly identified. One such approach was marketed as
Apollo Root Cause Analysis. The approach is similar to Fault Tree Analysis, but the emphasis is placed on Actions and Conditions instead of faults. The idea is that specific conditions must be present for an action to result in an undesireable effect, and that causes and effects form an infinite chain (e.g., 5 Why), where the cause of the top-level effect is a 2nd level effect itself with a cause that is a 3rd level effect, etc. An example is fire. The conditions required are a source of oxygen and fuel. The action is initiation of heat. The action plus the conditions result in fire. The absence of any condition will not result in fire regardless of the action.
I would compare these distinctions to the families of FMEAs. The basic tool is the same between a Process, Design, Machinery or Equipment
FMEA, but the way the tool is applied is different and the end result is different.
