Certified Safety Professional Practice Exam

Fault tree analysis is a systematic, deductive approach used to identify potential failures and their root causes in a process or system. This method involves constructing a diagram that represents the various ways a system could fail, starting from a specific undesired event (the "top event") and working backward to identify the possible contributing factors.

This analysis helps safety professionals and engineers visualize the relationships between failures, determine the likelihood of those failures, and prioritize areas for risk management or mitigation efforts. By breaking down complex systems into their constituent parts, fault tree analysis provides insights that guide decision-making for improving safety and reliability.

The other options do not focus specifically on identifying potential failures:

- Training suitability analysis evaluates the effectiveness and appropriateness of training programs in enhancing performance or safety but does not focus on failures.

- Management by objectives is a strategic management model aimed at improving organizational performance by defining objectives that are agreed upon by both management and employees, rather than analyzing potential system failures.

- Cost-benefit analysis assesses the economic trade-offs of decisions by comparing the costs of an action to its benefits, rather than identifying specific failures or causes.