Process Safety with Trish & Traci

Eleven refinery and fuel facility fires across four continents in roughly 60 days — that's the alarming backdrop for this episode of Process Safety with Trish and Traci. Process safety expert Trish Kerin examines whether the 2026 incidents are a statistical anomaly or a symptom of deeper systemic pressure. She points to deferred maintenance, narrowing margins and the normalization of risk during periods of production stress a...

When economic pressures mount, safety vigilance can quietly erode — and that's when incidents happen. In this episode, process safety expert Trish Kerin introduces APTBED, a practical decision-making framework for navigating volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times. The acronym covers six critical areas: Authority (know who's in charge), Psychological Safety (create space for honest information), Tacit and Explicit Kn...

When natural disasters strike industrial facilities, the results can be catastrophic — and most companies aren't ready. In this episode of Process Safety with Trish and Traci, Trish Kerin and Traci Purdum explore NATECH events, where natural hazards collide with industrial risk. Drawing on real incidents including Arkema in Crosby, Texas, BioLab in Lake Charles and the Fukushima disaster, they examine why facilities consisten...

Chernobyl, Bhopal, Three Mile Island, Deepwater Horizon, Texas City — What do they have in common? Human error or human factors were identified as contributing to the incidents. But what are these factors?

Understanding how people actually perceive, decide and act is essential to preventing catastrophic industrial accidents and everyday errors.

This In Case You Missed It episode brings the written word to life from the column...

In this episode, Trish Kerin and Traci Purdum explore process hazard analysis revalidations and how to make them more effective. Kerin explains the difference between redoing a PHA and revalidating existing assessments, introducing the Delta HAZOP methodology that focuses on creeping change in facilities. She discusses triggers for revalidation, from legislative requirements to significant operational changes, and emphasizes the im...

Engineers couldn't prove danger, so managers launched anyway. Seven astronauts died when O-rings failed in freezing temperatures. Apply the lessons learned to help avoid future incidents.

Three Key Takeaways:

1. Reverse the burden of proof: Require positive proof that something is safe before proceeding, rather than forcing engineers to prove it's unsafe.
2. Simplify safety communication: Complex data failed to convince decision-ma...

In this year-end episode, hosts Trish Kerin and Traci Purdum welcome Hayley Little, a U.K.-based process safety engineer who tracks quarterly catastrophic incidents on LinkedIn. The discussion explores origin stories in process safety, the critical gap in fundamental safety knowledge outside petrochemical industries, and the alarming frequency of preventable incidents in lower-hazard sectors. They discuss innovative solutions inclu...

This In Case You Missed It episode brings the written word to life. Today, Trish Kerin, the director of Lead Like Kerin, and Stay Safe columnist for Chemical Processing, will read the first few chapters from her book  “The Platypus Philosophy – how to identify and manage weak signals”  This book explores weak signals and focuses on how to identify and manage them to prevent incidents. It uses fun storyte...

The Buncefield explosion occurred when a gasoline storage tank overfilled after both its level gauge and independent high-level switch failed. Gasoline vapor formed a massive cloud that ignited, causing significant damage to surrounding business parks. Fortunately, the Sunday morning timing prevented fatalities, though 43 injuries occurred. The incident revealed critical gaps in safety control verification, testing procedures, and ...

When OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) standard took effect in 1992, it promised a new era of systematic hazard identification. Three decades later, process safety professionals are still witnessing the same critical oversights repeatedly compromising facility safety—oversights that have contributed to near misses, and far worse, major incidents.

Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum reads an article from Felicia Miller, senior p...

This episode explores the critical role of equipment reliability in chemical processing, focusing on three major incidents: Longford, BP Texas City and Buncefield. Trish highlights how faulty instrumentation, poor maintenance and overlooked management of change led to catastrophic failures, fatalities and environmental impacts. The discussion emphasizes safety-critical elements, maintenance KPIs and the importance of accurate instr...