Root Cause Categories¶
The CSB categorises failures at two levels: the immediate physical cause (what broke) and the underlying systemic factors (why it was allowed to break). The categories below map to the systemic failure modes the CSB identifies across investigations — the conditions that made the physical failure possible and prevented safeguards from stopping escalation.
Each page lists every CSB investigation where that failure mode was cited, with incident details and data-derived patterns.
| Root Cause / Failure Mode | Investigations | Top Industries |
|---|---|---|
| Procedural Failure | 107 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Design Deficiency | 103 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Training Deficiency | 73 | Chemical Manufacturing, Metals |
| Management of Change Failure | 56 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Communication Failure | 49 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Human / Operator Error | 46 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Emergency Response Failure | 40 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Maintenance Error | 38 | Chemical Manufacturing, Metals |
| Inspection Failure | 35 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Ignition Source Control Failure | 26 | Chemical Manufacturing, Transportation |
| Contractor Management Failure | 25 | Chemical Manufacturing, Oil And Gas Production |
| Alarm Management Failure | 19 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Relief System Failure | 18 | Chemical Manufacturing, Food Processing |
| Instrumentation Failure | 15 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Corrosion | 15 | Chemical Manufacturing, Petroleum Refining |
| Housekeeping Failure | 10 | Metals, Chemical Manufacturing |
| Control System Failure | 7 | Food Processing, Chemical Manufacturing |
| Overfill | 4 | Petroleum Refining, Wastewater Treatment |
!!! tip "Use the Knowledge Graph for cross-filtering" The Knowledge Graph Explorer lets you combine filters — industry sector, hazard type, year range, and fatality count — to find incidents most relevant to your facility's context.
Data sourced from CSB.gov public investigation reports. This site is an independent project not affiliated with the U.S. CSB.