Acute ethanol intoxication was cited as a contributory cause.

In other words, a contributory cause may be neither necessary nor sufficient but it must be contributory.

Only 4.46% of the recreational diving fatalities in a 1997 study were attributable to a single contributory cause.

The report also stated that incorrect setting of the elevator trim tab may have been a contributory cause.

A major contributory cause was that the signalman had erroneously suspended fog working, which would give greater distances between trains, due to a misunderstanding about whether fogmen were on duty.