The interest for reliability analysis in geotechnical engineering has been growing up in the last two decades. Probabilistic methods are generally used as a way of rationalizing the analysis of the uncertainties presents in the geotechnical properties. The First Order Second Moment method (FOSM) was applied in order to quantify the reliability of foundations. A methodology is proposed for quantifying the probability of faylure of shallow foundations and also the probability of settlements larger than the allowable design value. Example calculations are presented with basis on the results of prototype footings tested in the experimental research site at PUC-Rio.