What is a primary outcome of incident investigations required by PSM?

• A. Determining root causes and implementing corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• B. Increasing production speed.
• C. Reducing maintenance frequency.
• D. Penalty assessment for operators.

Answer: (C)

Root-cause analysis and implementing corrective actions to prevent recurrence. In PSM, incident investigations aim to uncover what happened, why it happened, and how to stop it from happening again. The focus is on identifying underlying causes and putting in place corrective actions—engineering controls, updated procedures, training, or management changes—and then verifying that those actions are effective. This learning mindset drives safer operation and reduces the chance of repeat incidents. Choices focused on production speed, reducing maintenance, or penalties do not address preventing future incidents and thus aren’t the primary outcome of these investigations.