
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
More episodes of Process Safety with Trish & Traci
- Process Safety: Meet Me Under the Clocks · May 26, 2026 · 6 min
- 11 Fires, 60 Days: What's Really Behind the 2026 Refinery Crisis · May 12, 2026 · 23 min
- When Level Nozzle Placement and Operator Behavior Collide · April 7, 2026 · 4 min
- Could vs. Should: What 'Jurassic Park' Can Teach Us About Process Safety · March 24, 2026 · 6 min
- When Nature Attacks: Preparing Chemical Facilities for NATECH Events · March 10, 2026 · 30 min
- Human Factors Engineering: Designing Systems Around Our Limitations · February 24, 2026 · 7 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Process Safety with Trish & Traci podcast page.