Taking the Risk Out of Risk Assessment

About this technology

Overview

In July 2003, received an exclusive license for the Quantitative Risk Assessment System (QRAS) software, which was jointly developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, its Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, and researchers at the University of Maryland. QRAS automatically expands the reliability logic models of systems to evaluate the probability of highly detrimental outcomes occurring in complex systems that are subject to potential accident scenarios. It was developed as a probabilistic risk assessment tool to support decisions on the funding of Space Shuttle upgrades. At the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School's major teaching hospital, QRAS is being used to determine the health care risk associated with general surgical processes, pharmaceutical ordering, transfusion services, and organ procurement and transplantation. Other examples of application include determining the probability of: airplane crashes arising from factors such as engine failure, avionics failure, or human-failure at the air control tower; and train collisions caused by failures in train-signaling systems.