Who should read this: Safety managers, lead investigators, and
investigators. Safety managers assign and approve investigations;
investigators document findings, perform RCA, and submit for
review.Prerequisites: At least one safety report must exist to create
an investigation. Investigations are always linked to a source
report.
Investigation Workflow Overview
Investigations move through these statuses:| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| New | Investigation created and assigned. Scope and initial facts being established. |
| Data Collection | Active evidence gathering — witness interviews, document collection, flight data extraction. |
| Analysis | Root cause analysis in progress. Findings being documented. |
| Review | Investigation report submitted for safety manager review and approval. |
| Completed | Investigation complete. All findings finalized, CPAs generated. Record is immutable. |
Open an Investigation from a Report
From the report detail page, open an investigation. The system creates an investigation record linked to the report and assigns an auto-generated investigation number.
Select a lead investigator from the user dropdown. If you want the system to balance workload automatically, use the Auto-Assign feature.
Auto-Assign selects the investigator with the fewest open investigations, balancing workload
across eligible personnel.
If the investigation requires additional investigators, add team members from the Assignment panel.
Work the Investigation
Once the investigation is assigned, the lead investigator clicks Start Investigation to move it to Data Collection.Document the Summary and Methodology
- Open the investigation detail page.
- Enter a Summary describing the scope and key facts of the event under investigation.
- Document the Methodology — describe the investigation approach (interviews, document review, data analysis, site inspection, etc.).
Add Findings
Findings are factual statements about conditions, events, or practices identified during the investigation.- In the Findings section, click Add Finding.
- Enter a description of the finding.
- Select a Category — human factors, organizational, environmental, equipment/technical, procedural, supervisory, or regulatory. Each category maps to an HFACS tier for structured analysis.
- Add Contributing Factors if the finding contributed to the event.
- Repeat for each finding identified.
Perform Root Cause Analysis
PlaneConnection provides three structured RCA methods accessible from the Root Cause Analysis section.| Method | When to Use |
|---|---|
| 5 Whys | Simple, linear cause chains. Iterative questioning from event to root cause. |
| Fishbone (Ishikawa) | Complex events with multiple contributing factors across People, Procedures, Equipment, Environment, Management, and Materials. |
| Barrier Analysis | Events involving defense-in-depth failures. Examines which barriers failed, were bypassed, or were absent. |
- Click Add Root Cause in the Root Cause Analysis section.
- Select the RCA method.
- For 5 Whys, enter each successive “Why” question and answer until you reach the fundamental cause.
- For Fishbone, categorize contributing factors into the standard categories and document each branch.
- For Barrier Analysis, list the barriers that should have prevented the event and document their status (effective, failed, bypassed, or absent).
Record Witness Statements
- In the Witness Statements section, click Record Statement.
- Enter the witness name (or “Anonymous” if identity protection is needed).
- Record the statement text and the date it was obtained.
Upload Evidence
- In the Evidence section, click Upload Evidence.
- Attach photos, documents, videos, links, or notes.
- Each evidence item is categorized by type and displayed in a gallery view with type summary chips.
Add Recommendations
- In the Recommendations section, click Add Recommendation.
- Describe the recommended corrective or preventive action.
- Recommendations become the basis for CPAs once the investigation is approved.
Monitor Investigation Completeness
The Investigation Completeness scorecard at the top of the detail page tracks required and optional artifacts:| Artifact | Required |
|---|---|
| Summary | Yes |
| Methodology | No |
| Findings | Yes |
| Root Causes | Yes |
| Recommendations | Yes |
| Witness Statements | No |
| Evidence | No |
Submit for Review and Approval
- Once all required artifacts are documented, click Submit for Review in the page header.
- The investigation status changes to Review.
- The safety manager reviews findings, root causes, and recommendations.
- The safety manager can:
- Approve the investigation — this moves it to Completed and finalizes the record.
- Request Changes — this returns the investigation to Data Collection with notes explaining what needs revision.
Link CPAs from the Investigation
From the Related CPAs panel on the investigation sidebar, click Create CPA to generate a corrective or preventive action directly from the investigation’s recommendations. The CPA is automatically linked to the investigation for traceability.Put On Hold or Reopen
- Put on Hold: While an investigation is in Data Collection or Analysis, click Put on Hold to pause it. Use this when waiting for external data or witness availability.
- Resume: Click Resume Investigation to return a held investigation to its previous active status.
- Reopen: After an investigation is completed, click Reopen to return it to active status if new information surfaces.
Use the AI Assistant
Click AI Assist in the investigation header to open the AI Copilot sidebar. The assistant has context about the investigation number, status, findings count, and root causes. Use it to:- Draft summary language
- Identify potential contributing factors
- Suggest additional lines of inquiry
Related
Investigation Workflow
Statuses, RCA methods, and approval rules reference.
Create a CPA
How to create corrective actions from investigation findings.
Just Culture Framework
Behavior classification used during investigations.
Submit a Safety Report
How reports that trigger investigations are created.