Advanced Use-Related Risk Analysis (URRA) Online Course

About this course

This course will explain how to make sure your use-related risk analysis is performed and documented in a way that helps assure a safe and effective user interface design, as well as an appropriately rigorous HF validation test (for which the use-related risk analysis is an essential input). The instructors will focus on advanced topics, such as tips for organizing a use-related risk analysis, determining the right specificity for the content (e.g., tasks, use errors), and the problems that can arise from an impoverished or incomplete use-related risk analysis. Within a 1-month period following the online course, you may schedule a 1-hour, complimentary consultation with the instructors to ask any specific and company-confidential questions about performing a use-related risk analysis.

Meet the instructor

The instructor, who has developed use-related risk analyses for myriad complex and simple medical products, will walk through considerations, tips, and pitfalls that you can leverage to ensure your next use-related risk analysis is of the highest quality.

Merrick Kossack, research director

For over 25 years, Merrick has helped companies develop processes and strategies to address their human factors engineering needs, particularly for complex and high-risk systems. His areas of expertise include integrating human factors engineering into established design and development processes, conducting complex usability studies, and advising on human factors strategy to satisfy regulatory needs. He received an M.S. degree in Human-Machine Systems Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois. Merrick is a contributing author to Applied Human Factors in Medical Device Design (2019) and has delivered numerous presentations on the subject. He is an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Human Factors Engineering subcommittee as well as IEC TC 62/SC 62A/JWG 4, both responsible for the creation of human-factors-related standards and guidance. He is also a member of the AAMI faculty staff teaching their Human Factors for Medical Devices course. In 2020, Merrick was inducted into UL’s William Henry Merrill Society as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff.