Type the problem and each why. The helper flags a chain that blames a person, repeats the line above, skips a step or stops too early, then gives you a clean chain to print. Each flag comes with an example of a better answer.
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What it checks
| Result | When it shows |
|---|---|
| Blames a person | A why says someone forgot, made a mistake, was careless or did not follow the instruction. Mistake proofing does not count, and neither does a person named with a process cause after "because". |
| Gap | A why is empty and a later one is filled in. |
| Check | A why is too thin or too general to test, mostly repeats the one above, or the last one leans on training or does not point at a process. |
| Stopped early | Fewer than three whys are filled in. |
| Escape note | Nothing in the chain says why the defect was not caught. |
Worked example
The problem is 240 brackets with holes out of position. The first why is that the part moved during drilling. The second says the operator did not clamp it correctly. The third is blank, and the fourth says there was not enough training.
The helper passes the first why. It flags the second as blaming a person, the third as a gap, and the fourth as training, which is rarely the end of a chain. A better second why asks what let the part move, such as a clamp that does not seat or a locating pin packed with chips.
Why this matters
A chain that ends at a person leads to retraining, and retraining fades. A chain that ends at something the process owns, like a fixture, a gage or a missing step in the work instruction, leads to a fix that holds. The helper nudges you down that path. It cannot tell you whether your answers are true, so test the last why on the floor. Read the method in how to do a 5 Why.
The helper reads the words you wrote. If your customer or your quality system requires a specific root cause format, follow that first. This is a screening check, not a review.