Recent Catastrophic Accidents: Investigating How Software was Responsible

Areas crucial to life such as medicine, transportation, nuclear-energy research and industry, aeronautics, and others, all make use of software in one way or another. However, the application of software to such domains means that the software may now become safety-critical such that an error in the software or an error in its use could have devastating consequences. This paper reviews 14 recent accidents, several of which resulted in the loss of life in addition to time and money, and identifies the role(s) that software played as an important causative factor. The useful lessons which can be learned from the accidents are also presented, which can then act as principles and guidelines to avoid the recurrence of similar accidents in the future.