Root cause failure analysis (RCFA) is the process of investigating the root cause of the failure of an item or process. RCFA differs from what is commonly offered as failure analysis (FA) in that RCFA establishes the most fundamental cause of a failure while FA frequently reveals only the mechanism of failure. The case of a hand tool RCFA project illustrates the difference between FA and RCFA. A hand tool used in a drilling operation failed in service, resulting in a worker falling and an associated lost-time injury. A basic FA project could report that the tool fractured at its main link due to overload. A RCFA project would expand on this, showing evidence that the tool handle was modified and extended by the tool user and concluding that this inappropriate tool modification was the cause of the overload that resulted in the ultimate failure. RCFA gives the client something specific to correct, while FA may not give any insight into how to prevent or delay future failures.