Leading Safely in a VUCA World

Leading Safely in a VUCA World

From Process Safety with Trish & Traci by chemicalprocessingsafety

April 21, 2026 · 28 min · Episode 121

About this episode

Trish Kerin discusses the APTBED framework for maintaining safety vigilance in challenging economic times.

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 Knowledge (bring all knowledge into the room), Biases (recognize and manage cognitive blind spots), Expectations (manage them or people will fill the void), and Document Decisions (if it's not written down, it never happened). Good decisions and strong safety culture aren't mutually exclusive — even in a crisis.

People in this episode

Host: Trish Kerin

Topics covered

  • safety culture
  • decision-making
  • VUCA
  • process safety
  • leadership
  • psychological safety

Keywords

  • APTBED
  • safety vigilance
  • decision-making framework
  • cognitive biases
  • psychological safety
  • leadership

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