What primarily determines when the root-cause analysis plan is communicated?

• A. Scope of the incident
• B. Time of day
• C. Regulatory deadlines
• D. Availability of stakeholders

Answer: (A)

The timing is driven by how broad and complex the incident is—the scope. When an incident touches many assets, sites, or systems and requires coordinated data collection and analysis across multiple teams, the root-cause analysis plan needs to be communicated early to align everyone and start gathering the right information. For a small, contained incident, the plan can be developed and shared quickly with a narrower group. Time of day or stakeholder availability can influence when you actually send the plan, and regulatory deadlines may set overall constraints, but they don’t determine the initial timing the way the incident’s scope does.