System & Maintenance · DWG LS-019

Lubrication root cause failure analysis (RCFA)

Guided root-cause / RCFA pathway for lubrication and reliability failures. Scope the event, work the data-collection checklist, map physical / human / latent causes, capture failure modes, and drive countermeasures through the 9 Methods of Mitigation into an action plan. Switch between a streamlined Field workflow and a full Desktop investigation.

Published standard (ISO 15243)Last reviewed

Source: ISO 15243:2017 (iso.org) · SKF Bearing damage and failure analysis (PDF)

The RCFA workflow follows established methods (5-Whys, fishbone, FMEA); cause descriptions are in LubeSuite’s own words.

Validation
  • The ISO 15243 picker (6 modes, 14 leaf modes) matches the ISO 15243 classification diagram as laid out in SKF’s Bearing damage and failure analysis (pp. 40–41).

How calculators are checked: editorial standards.

📋 Event Details
⚡ UPE Trigger Check
📝 Problem Statement
A strong problem statement answers: What happened, When it happened, Where it happened, and the Impact.
📊 Data Collection Checklist
0 / 0
🔩 Evidence / Failed Components
📸 Save failed components! They are critical for determining physical failure modes.
🧭 Bearing damage — ISO 15243 failure-mode picker
Looking at a failed rolling bearing? Pick the damage you see. You get the ISO 15243 mode, what it usually looks like, and the usual causes to check. Tick the causes that fit and add them to your observations (tagged Physical).
Mode and sub-mode names and numbering follow ISO 15243 as laid out in SKF Bearing damage and failure analysis (classification diagram pp.40–41; mode descriptions and actions pp.42–76; symptom troubleshooting tables p.11). The descriptions and cause lists here are our own summaries, not quotes. Damage often has more than one mode (e.g. dents from particles leading to spalling), so follow the evidence back to the first one.
🔍 Observations — Tag by Cause Type
Physical — Equipment mechanism / contamination Human — Mistakes / shortcuts / errors Latent — Culture / practices / systems
❓ Preliminary 5-Why
Start with your primary failure event and ask "Why?" up to 5 times. Each answer becomes the next question.
📤 Session Summary
📋 Event & Problem Statement
📊 Data Collection Status
0 / 0
🗺 Cause Map
Build your cause map by entering causes into each lane. Physical = equipment mechanism. Human = actions/decisions. Latent = systemic/cultural.
⚙️ Physical Causes
👤 Human Causes
🏭 Latent Causes
🔴 Failure Modes
For each failure mode, identify the root cause by type: Physical (what broke and how), Human (actions or decisions that contributed), and Latent (systemic or cultural factors).
🧭 Bearing damage — ISO 15243 failure-mode picker
Looking at a failed rolling bearing? Pick the damage you see. You get the ISO 15243 mode, what it usually looks like, and the usual causes to check. Tick the causes that fit and add it as a failure mode (ticked causes go in the Physical lane).
Mode and sub-mode names and numbering follow ISO 15243 as laid out in SKF Bearing damage and failure analysis (classification diagram pp.40–41; mode descriptions and actions pp.42–76; symptom troubleshooting tables p.11). The descriptions and cause lists here are our own summaries, not quotes. Damage often has more than one mode (e.g. dents from particles leading to spalling), so follow the evidence back to the first one.
🛡 9 Methods of Mitigation
Select a method to see guiding questions and add countermeasures. Countermeasures have three objectives: prevent occurrence, reduce impact, or improve detectability.
📋 All Selected Countermeasures
🛡
No countermeasures added yet. Select a method above to begin.
✅ Action Plan
# Action / Countermeasure Method Priority Owner Due Date Status Notes