Every quality and improvement professional knows that investigations create valuable opportunities to learn, improve and prevent recurrence. For water companies, where Operational, Environmental and Asset Management teams often face similar challenges from different perspectives, building organisational learning capability can be just as important as conducting the investigation itself.
This was the challenge Anglian Water set out to address through a collaborative programme with Root Cause Analysis (RCA) specialists What Caused This, focused on strengthening RCA capability and creating a more connected approach to investigation learning.
The Need for Connected RCA Learning
In many large organisations, RCA activity is managed through a combination of spreadsheets, reports and team-specific processes. Information is often held within separate teams and systems, making it difficult to identify recurring causes, recognise common themes and develop a broader understanding of emerging risks and improvement opportunities.
Creating Consistency Across Operational Teams
Recognising the value of a more connected approach, Anglian Water began working with What Caused This to explore how investigation knowledge and insight could be shared more effectively across the business.
Working closely together, the two organisations combined operational experience, investigation expertise and user feedback to develop an approach that reflected the realities of day-to-day operations while creating a consistent framework for capturing, analysing and sharing investigation learning.
The result was a digital RCA platform designed not only to support individual investigations but also to strengthen organisational learning across Operational, Environmental and Asset teams.
From Individual Investigations to Organisational Insight
By bringing investigations together within a single platform, Anglian Water has improved visibility of event causes, recurring themes and systemic risks across the organisation.
The platform has created a more transparent and evidence-based approach to RCA, improving consistency while reducing the administrative effort associated with managing investigations across multiple systems and formats.
Molly Bartlett, Intervention Optimisation Lead for Anglian Water’s Pollution Response Team, says:
“The partnership has allowed us to share operational knowledge, challenge existing approaches and develop a more connected way of learning from incidents across the organisation. It’s been valuable to work with a team that understands both the technical and human side of RCA.”
Supporting Continuous Improvement
The new approach has supported faster, more evidence-based investigations, enabling teams to collaborate more effectively and focus less on administration and more on understanding why events occur and how to prevent recurrence.
What Caused This CEO Jonathan Batchelor commented:
“Anglian Water’s openness to collaboration and continuous improvement has created an environment where shared operational knowledge and practical experience can directly influence how the platform evolves. Together, we are helping build a stronger and more connected approach to RCA within the water sector.”
By connecting investigations, lessons learned and improvement actions within a single platform, What Caused This and Anglian Water have created stronger foundations for preventative action, helping teams greatly improve both operational performance and environmental outcomes.
