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 including AI tools, virtual reality training and social media outreach to democratize process safety education. The conversation emphasizes the urgent need for better university training, field presence over desk work and human factors integration to make it easier to "accidentally get it right."

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 storytelling about the unique platypus as a technique to explain complex concepts and tools. You can purchase this book on Amazon or snag a signed copy from Trish’s website, leadlikekerin.com.

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 maintenance regimes. Twenty years later, the disaster emphasizes the importance of recognizing weak signals, maintaining bund integrity, and ensuring operators actively monitor tank filling operations rather than relying solely on automated systems.

In this episode, Trish Kerin reads her most recent column, which highlights the importance of immediate communication in safety situations, even when complete information isn't yet available to share.

You can read the column here.

Trevor Kletz revolutionized process safety through HAZOP advocacy, inherent safety principles, learning from accidents, and emphasizing design simplification over complex add-ons. In this episode, Trish & Traci discuss his many contributions to the world of process safety.

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 principal engineer at ABSG Consulting and Darshankumar Lakhani, senior manager in engineering at ABSG.

Original article: https://www.chemicalprocessing.com/safety-security/risk-assessment/article/55311485/hidden-hazards-10-common-pha-oversights

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 instrumentation.