Subject Matter Experts: Keynote Speakers for RCA

Topics: Reliability Practices, Failure Investigation & Human Error Reduction in the workplace.

Subject Matter Speakers for Root Cause analysis and Reliability. For over 30 years Reliability Center Inc. has engaged in professional keynote speaking and reliability training for all types of industries. RCI’s team of engineers, technicians, investigators and teaching staff are all focused on how the human element contributes to undesirable outcomes and why. Our subject matter experts provide the most comprehensive resources to your facility with education designed to advance the skills, integrity and value of learning about root cause analysis, human performances and how they correlate to why things go wrong.

New RCA Book! This is the 5th Edition in our series of: Root Cause Analysis – Improving Performance for Bottom-Line Results. Pre-order your copy today and SAVE 20%! Read More…

Robert J. Latino
Mark A. Latino

Robert J. Latino

About Robert J. Latino:
Bob Latino is an internationally recognized author, trainer, software developer, lecturer and practitioner of best practices in the field of Reliability Engineering and specifically in Root Cause Analysis. He has been facilitating RCA & FMEA analyses with his clientele around the world for over 25 years and has taught over 10,000 students in the PROACT® RCA Methodology.
Mr. Latino received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Speaking engagements may include associated case study videos, articles and other quick reference materials.

Testimonial: Laurel-Ann Holder-Noel, • 1st Director of Risk Management at Hackensack Meridian…
“I just had to take a moment to let you know I really enjoy your posts! You are a true thought leader who is inspiring, engaging, knowledgeable and also resourceful. You constantly challenge my thoughts on risk management and give me ways to improve my practice. Your posts are truly among my favorites. Thank you for sharing and thank you for being a role model”.

Testimonial: Faye Sheppard RN MSN JD …
“My name is Faye Sheppard RN MSN JD and I have 35 years’ experience in healthcare risk management and patient safety. I served on the core expert panel that wrote the NPSF RCA2 white paper. I also contributed to ASHRMs RCA Playbook. This process gave me a new appreciation of the engineering perspective in the RCA process as a majority of the expert panel have an engineering background. Other industries have for a long time used RCAs to improve processes and procedures. Healthcare clearly lags behind and could definitely benefit from those industries. Bob Latino has been in the Reliability engineering field for 32 years and has a strong safety background. He has experience with healthcare and is often seen as a go to expert in safety engineering including the RCA process. I have no reservation in recommending Bob as a very well qualified and knowledgeable expert capable of teaching RCAs to anyone in healthcare. Please contact me with any questions you may have. Fayesheppardpsr@yahoo.com, 817-929-1800.”

Schedule:

Reliability, Process, & Maintenance Symposium (RPM Symposium)
September 17-18.2019
Kalamazoo, MI
Presentation Date/Time: September 17, 2019 @ 8:30am local time
Presentation Title: Why Do Good People Often Make Bad Decisions? Using Root Cause Analysis to Tell Your Story
Overview

Publications:
Bob has authored and co-authored numerous books as well as published articles in various industry and healthcare trade magazines and journals on the topic of Reliability, FMEA, Opportunity Analysis and Root Cause Analysis. He has been a frequent speaker on reliability topics at domestic and international trade conferences. Bob has applied his company’s PROACT® methodology to the field of Terrorism and Counter Terrorism via a published paper entitled “The Application of PROACT RCA to Terrorism/Counter Terrorism Related Events” at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics. In addition to publications Bob has co-authored seminars and workshops on FMEA and Root Cause Analysis as well as co-designed the award winning PROACT® Root Cause Analysis Software System.

Authored and Co-Authored Books:
Root Cause Analysis: Improving Performance for Bottom Line Results – 5th Edition

This book comprehensively outlines what a holistic and effective Root Cause Analysis (RCA) system looks like. From the designing of the support infrastructure to the measuring of effectiveness on the bottom-line, this book provides the blueprint for making it happen. While traditionally RCA is viewed as a reactive tool, the authors will show how it can be applied proactively to prevent failures from occurring in the first place. RCA is a key element of any successful Reliability Engineering initiative. Such initiatives are comprised of equipment, process and human reliability foundations. Human Reliability is critical to the success of a true RCA approach.

This book explores the anatomy of a failure (undesirable outcome) as well as a potential failure (high risks). Virtually all failures are triggered by errors of omission or commission by human beings. The methodologies described in this book are applicable to any industry because the focus is on the human being’s ability to think through why things go wrong, not on the industry or the nature of the failure. This book correlates Reliability to Safety as well as Human Performance Improvement efforts. The author has provided a healthy balance between theory and practical application, wrapping up with case studies demonstrating bottom-line results.

Authored By: Robert J. Latino, CEO. Reliability Center, Mark Latino, President Reliability Center, and Kenneth C. Latino, APM Product Manager, GE Digital

Catalog no. K393125
July 2019, 336 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-1383-3245-4
~~$129.95 / £96.80~~
$103.96 / £76.80
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Root Cause Analysis: Improving Performance for Bottom Line Results.
Now in its fourth edition, “Root Cause Analysis: Improving Performance for bottom-Line Results” continues to explore why things don’t work out as planned and how to make sure they do. While past editions have focused on Failure Modes and Effects Analysis and Opportunity Analysis, this new edition emphasizes evidence collection and strategy and the contribution of human performance and human factors to poor decision making and understanding the human element. New topics covered include PROACTOnDemand, the advantages of SaaS, RCA templates, as well as various case studies illustrating RCA.
Robert J. Latino, Kenneth C. Latino, and Mark A. Latino 4th Edition, 2011, c. 280 pp., ISBN: 9781439850923, Taylor & Francis. Boca Raton.
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Patient Safety: The PROACT Root Cause Analysis Approach.
This book addresses the proactive methodologies and organizational paradigms that must change in order to support and sustain such activities in the interest of patient safety. Written by reliability expert Robert J. Latino, this book provides a perspective on patient care from outside the health industry and culture. It teaches a proven approach that measures its effectiveness based on patient safety results, rather than compliance, and demonstrates the Return-On-Investment for using RCA to reduce and/or eliminate undesirable outcomes. Addressing the contribution of human error to physical consequences, it explores ways to identify conditions which are more prone to result in human error. It also uses FMEA to proactively identify unacceptable risks, and then uses the concepts of RCA to prevent risks from materializing.
Robert J. Latino 2008, c. 272 pp., ISBN 9781420087277, Taylor and Francis. Boca Raton.
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Error Reduction in Healthcare: A Systems Approach to Improving Patient Safety.
Completely revised and updated, this second edition of Error Reduction in Health Care offers a step-by-step guide for implementing the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine to reduce the frequency of errors in health care services and to mitigate the impact of errors when they do occur. With contributions from noted leaders in health safety, Error Reduction in Health Care provides information on analyzing accidents and shows how systematic methods can be used to understand hazards before accidents occur. In the chapters, authors explore how to prioritize risks to accurately focus efforts in a systems redesign, including performance measures and human factors. This expanded edition covers contemporary material on innovative patient safety topics such as applying Lean principles to reduce mistakes, opportunity analysis, deductive adverse event investigation, improving safety through collaboration with patients and families, using technology for patient safety improvements, medication safety, and high reliability organizations.
Contributing Author: Robert J. Latino 2nd Edition, 2011 [Apr], c. 284, ISBN: 1-55648-271-X, AHA Press.
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The Handbook of Patient Safety Compliance: A Practical Guide for Health Care Organizations.
Written for virtually every professional and leader in the health care field, as well as students who are preparing for careers in health services delivery, this book presents a framework for developing a patient safety program, shows how best to examine events that do occur, and reveals how to ensure that appropriate corrective and preventative actions are reviewed for effectiveness.

The book covers a comprehensive selection of topics including:

The link between patient safety and legal and regulatory compliance
The role of accreditation and standard-setting organizations in patient safety
Failure modes and effect analysis
Voluntary and regulatory oversight of medical error
Evidence-based outcomes and standards of care

Contributing Author: Robert J. Latino 2005, c. 350 pp. ISBN 0-7879-6510-3, Jossey-Bass
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Mark A. Latino

About Mark A. Latino:
Mark came to RCI after 19 years in corporate America. During those years a wealth of reliability, maintenance, and manufacturing experience was acquired. He worked for Weyerhaeuser Corporation in a production role during the early stages of his career. He was an active part of Allied Chemical Corporation’s (now Honeywell) Reliability Strive for Excellence initiative that was started in the 70s to define, understand, document, and live the reliability culture until he left in 1986. Mr. Latino spent 10 years with Philip Morris primarily in a production capacity that later evolved into a reliability engineering role. He is a graduate of Old Dominion University and holds a BS Degree in Business Management that focused on Production & Operations Management. Mark is an author and contributor to several articles in magazines and news enzines. Many of Mr. Latino’s articles can be found in our articles section of the Industry channel. Mr. Latino continues to facilitate RCA in many corporations throughout the United States and Internationally providing a vast knowledge of Best Practices for Industry. Mr. Latino’s movie presentations can be found in our Industry Channel movie demo page.

Schedule:

September 17 & 18, 2019
Annual EPRI Switching Safety & Reliability Conference
Richmond, VA.
Omni Richmond Hotel: Map

Presenter(s):

Holcombe Baird

Mark Latino

Title: Why Can’t RCA and Learning Teams be Friends?

Abstract:

The presenter(s) will bring three (3) key components of an Effective Root Cause Analysis (RCA) system together and demonstrate how they can work together with Learning Team (LT) approaches:

The need for thorough evidence collection and analysis,
The incorporation of human decision reasoning,
The following of a disciplined and comprehensive RCA methodology that incorporates both the physical and social sciences

The biggest takeaway from the presenter will be that effective RCA’s should not be limited to just the physics involved in the undesirable outcomes. To be truly effective there has to be an analysis into the human decision reasoning and the wide array of influencers affecting that thinking.

The reality is that many traditional RCA facilitators do delve deep into human dynamics. It is more time consuming and costly (think non-production labor hours). An RCA into the physics only, is quick. A LT session is quick. Both generate recommendations, which is the management expectation. Yet one without the other, lacks comprehensiveness.

The trouble is the traditional, ‘physics only’ RCA is generally conducted by technical people (both in the RCA process itself and the technical subject matter) who are not comfortable nor well-versed with the social sciences. Personnel involved in the incident often appear inconsistent, illogical and emotional!

The LT is typically conducted by facilitators with expertise in communications, decision-making, leadership and team work. Such facilitators often do not understand the technical aspects of the work performed and the production processes involved, to detect if the statements made by team members are truly accurate.

The presenters will address how a company can utilize key elements of both approaches when analyzing an incident? Then ask: What are the hurdles that would prevent the use of the combined thinking? There is unity in purpose for both approaches and this presentation will demonstrate how such can be accomplished.

Virginia Beach, VA
Paper Title: Shallow Cause Analysis = Effective RCA Human Performance Short-Cuts

Publications:
Mr. Latino has authored and co-authored numerous books as well as published articles in various industry trade magazines and journals on the topic of Reliability, FMEA, Opportunity Analysis and Root Cause Analysis. He has been a frequent speaker on reliability topics at domestic and international trade conferences.

Authored and Co-Authored Books:

Request Speaker Availability

What Our Clients Say…

William P. Kosonen

“I had the pleasure of working with the extremely knowledgeable and talented Reliability Center Inc. (RCI) staff while using their PROACT methodology to successfully identify the root causes of several significant equipment failures. The techniques utilized to analyze the events resulted in generating excellent reports that were thorough and understandable.

Every company would benefit from utilizing RCI and their methodologies.”

William P. Kosonen

Maintenance & Engineering Support Consultant

Mark Young

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your company and the products you offer. We’ve incorporated your RCA Methodology into our business and are having a very smooth roll-out. I would like to especially recognize John Bartlow as being a “5 star asset” to your organization. In my opinion, he defines “excellence” within customer service. I look forward to tremendous success working with you guys, just as I’ve had success in the past.

Mark Young

Director of Reliability - Advanced Technology Services

Sanya Mathura

“Mark, It was an absolute pleasure to see you deliver the BFA course yesterday.

The manner in which you made the topics come to life with your experiences and knowledge was great to behold. You continuously connected with the audience and had them engaged for the entire day! (Which is a bit tough to do especially after lunch). Your wealth of experience and knowledge throughout the day really helped in bringing the participants to the understanding of the PROACT methodology and the concepts that were covered in the BFA. “

Sanya Mathura, Managing Director & Senior Consultant

Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd

Laurel-Ann Holder-Noel

“I just had to take a moment to let you know I really enjoy your posts! You are a true thought leader who is inspiring, engaging, knowledgeable and also resourceful. You constantly challenge my thoughts on risk management and give me ways to improve my practice. Your posts are truly among my favorites. Thank you for sharing and thank you for being a role model”.

Laurel Ann Holder Noel

1st Director of Risk Management at Hackensack Meridian

Alan Laundry

A technique that allowed us to fix a chronic processing problem that plagued one of our gas plants for more than ten years. If not for this technique, we would still be “fire fighting” this problem today.

Alan Laundry - Tech. Services Manager,

Westcoast Energy, Inc., Ft. St. John, BC.

Ron Butcher

“I had the opportunity to attend the Reliability Center’s (PROACT) Lead Investigator course in 2012 when we used “super users” to perform RCA’s on high impact incidents. One of the things I most enjoyed about that course was the time spent on the investigative process and the formality of evaluation of evidence based on facts in evidence. While that sounds a tad like a criminal investigation, the course is really about instilling the formal processes necessary for exploration and understanding. To your ‘wheelhouse’ we had a wonderful three days where we did nothing but evaluate and hypothesize the failure mechanisms for an array of mechanical components, shafts and bearings. From the perspective of understanding failure to institute system resilience, I can’t honestly say enough good things about the course. I also don’t think we’d find a more experienced team in performing these analyses than exists with the Latino family whose father started the business long before it was a fashionable practice. From my reading and experience, I would put Mr. Latino on par with Dr. Deming, Joseph Juran and others who pioneered the quality movement. Simply stated, whatever platform is used to collate and present the findings will only be as beneficial to our cause as the preparedness of the investigative team.”

Ron Butcher
Director of Health and Safety
U.S. Competitive Generation
AES

Paul Andrews

Your work (Reliability Center) has helped Cliffs Natural Resources to learn from their failures. The training and consulting in root cause analysis (RCA) has helped Cliffs pinpoint the underlying reasons for problems and paved the way to develop strategies for improving performance. Your (RCI) efforts have allowed Cliffs to have significant and widespread financial benefits. These efforts have specifically resulted in improved production, increased maintenance precision and improved business focus.

Paul Andrews - Reliability Engineer

Cliffs Natural Resources

Daryl Mather

The Latino brothers have been trail blazers in Root Cause Analysis for as long as I have known them. They have been particularly visionary in pioneering the inclusion of Human Factors into this field, via the PROACT methodology, over the past decade and a half. As always, their vision has been right on target!

Daryl Mather, Owner and Principal Consultant

Reliability Success Pty Ltd