Process Safety with Trish & Traci
The Process Safety with Trish & Traci podcast shares insights from recent process-safety incidents to avoid accidents at chemical processing plants.
Episodes
With federal OSHA down to roughly 1,700 inspectors for 12 million workplaces — meaning a facility might see a full inspection once every 191 years — self-regulation has effectively become the entire safety system. In this episode, Trish Kerin explains why internal teams stop noticing their own drift from procedure (normalization of deviance) and why "no incidents" doesn't mean a program is working — only that cont...
On this episode of Processing Safety with Trish and Traci, forensic engineer Dr. Sean Brady joins Trish Kerin and Traci Purdum to revisit Piper Alpha, the 1988 North Sea platform disaster that killed 167 workers. They trace how a lost permit-to-work, a missing relief valve, and a design never updated for gas service combined with failed firewalls, redundant systems that bred false confidence and risers that kept feeding the fire. U...
Smart design and layout choices, made well before a crisis hits, can protect plants from cyberattacks, sabotage and extreme weather without a major capital investment. This is based on an article from Amin Almasi, "Disaster Planning in Process Plants: Best Offense is a Passive Defense," Chemical Processing, July 20, 2026
From an 3 a.m. evacuation drill to a real fire alarm in Toronto, repeated emergencies reveal how — and how poorly — we prepare when we're away from home. Hear why Trish could be the Jessica Fletcher of the process safety world.
On this episode of Processing Safety with Trish and Traci, General Atomics safety engineer Valerie Stakes returns to discuss well-being in the safety profession, building on her 2026 ASSP conference session. She, Trish Kerin and Traci Purdum explore why safety professionals — often wired to please and fix — struggle to set boundaries and how compassion fatigue, unappreciated efforts and repeated exposure to injuries and...
Decades of guidance on alarm management exist. So why are control rooms still drowning in noise?
Trish Kerin breaks down the runaway reaction that triggered a mass evacuation in Orange County, California, and explains what facilities handling reactive chemicals can learn about instrumentation, warning signs and emergency communication.
Editor's Note: We mention an upcoming webinar that Trish will be hosting: a webinar focused on leadership in uncertain times — looking at key strategies and tools we can use to navigate so...
The analog timepieces at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station offer a timeless lesson: sometimes the simplest solution is the most elegant — and the most reliable.
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 operators inevitably push levels to their limits, a poorly placed vapor inlet nozzle can turn a routine excursion into a tower-wrecking event.
In this episode, Stay Safe Columnist Trish Kerin reads her latest article for Chemical Processing. She's a proud GenXer, and she points out that a line from Dr. Ian Malcolm cuts to the heart of a critical distinction in process safety — the difference between what we are allowed to do and what we ought to do. You can read the column here.
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...
Applying risk management principles helps Process Safety Engineer Trish Kerin navigate her first successful year of self-employment. Listen in as Trish brings her January column to life. You can read her column here.
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:
- Reverse the burden of proof: Require positive proof that something is safe before proceeding, rather than forcing engineers to prove it's unsafe.
- Simplify safety communication: Complex data failed to convince decision-ma...
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 her column "Bird’s-Eye View Prevents Process Safety Groundings," which was published to chemicalprocessing.com on Dec. 17, 2025.
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...
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