Good Safety Drives Good Business

Good Safety Drives Good Business

Ryan Rebman is the Senior Director of Health and Safety at Conagra Brands, a leading American food company known for producing popular packaged and frozen foods under brands like Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, and Marie Callender’s. Ryan brings extensive experience in corporate safety leadership, including a previous role at Ecolab, where he helped implement a unified driver safety program across business units. At Conagra, he is responsible for developing and executing environmental, health, and safety strategies to foster a world-class safety culture across the company’s operations.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
[2:09] Ryan Rebman reflects on 30-plus years in safety leadership and his mission to protect people one person at a time
[6:30] Overview of Conagra Brands’ fleet and the importance of safety for over 18,000 employees, including daily commuters
[9:43] The importance of moving from lagging to leading safety indicators
[12:38] Why safety and operations must work together
[14:37] How leadership sets the tone for a transparent, improvement-driven culture
[16:30] Ryan’s strategy for evaluating and improving safety programs
[28:15] The balance between technical policies and emotional engagement
[31:18] Ryan’s advice for new safety professionals
[32:26] Keeping safety simple, human-centered, and driven by genuine care for coworkers

In this episode…

While many organizations focus on lagging indicators and compliance checklists, others are finding greater success by embedding safety into the fabric of everyday work. But what does it take to shift safety from a box to check into a driver of business success?
According to Ryan Rebman, a seasoned safety leader, the key lies in making safety an inseparable part of daily operations. He highlights the importance of proactive, risk-based approaches that prioritize leading indicators over reactive metrics. When safety is seen not as an add-on but integral to how work gets done, organizations can improve performance, reduce incidents, and foster a stronger culture. Ryan also emphasizes the power of leadership alignment and frontline engagement in making safety sustainable. Creating a system that empowers people, rather than punishes them, unlocks long-term momentum and trust.
In this episode of Roadrageous, hosts Liam Hoch and Chad Lindholm sit down with Ryan Rebman, Senior Director of Health and Safety at Conagra Brands, to talk about why good safety drives good business. They explore how to shift from compliance to culture, the value of embedding safety into the operational flow, and why leading indicators matter more than lagging ones. Ryan also shares advice for influencing leadership and sustaining momentum over time.

Quotable Moments:

1. “A lot of times we focus on the individual, on the who, and it’s not on what happened.”
2. “If you set a bold target and just miss it, you’re going to get further than if you set a safe target.”
3. “Safety drives business, right? It’s not the other way around. So good safety can drive good business.”
4. “Safe driving also uses less fuel. So if you’re not speeding, you’re not accelerating.”
5. “We underemphasize the emotional or the hearts and minds piece of things.”

Action Steps:

1. Integrate safety into daily workflows: Embedding safety practices into regular operations, rather than treating them as separate initiatives, leads to more consistent behaviors and long-term cultural adoption.
2. Shift focus to leading indicators: Monitoring proactive measures like training completion and risk assessments helps prevent incidents before they occur rather than reacting to them after the fact.
3. Empower employees at all levels: Actively involving frontline workers in safety solutions fosters ownership, surfaces valuable insights, and builds trust across the organization.
4. Align leadership with safety goals: When leaders visibly support and prioritize safety, it reinforces its importance, accelerates cultural change, and drives accountability.
5. Avoid complacency after success: Continuing to evaluate and improve safety programs even after hitting goals ensures that progress is sustained and new risks are swiftly addressed.

Key Theme: Safety as a Business Driver, Not Just Compliance

Ryan Rebman, Senior Director of Health and Safety at Conagra Brands, brings over 30 years of safety leadership experience to one of America’s leading food companies. In this Roadrageous podcast episode, he argues that effective safety programs drive business success rather than simply checking compliance boxes.

Main Discussion Points:

• Ryan’s three-decade journey in safety leadership with a mission to “protect people one person at a time”
• Managing safety across Conagra’s 18,000+ employees, including fleet operations and daily commuters
• The critical shift from lagging indicators (incident reports) to leading indicators (proactive risk assessments)
• Why safety and operations must be integrated, not separate functions
• How leadership tone creates transparent, improvement-focused cultures
• Balancing technical policies with emotional engagement and genuine care

Core Philosophy: Ryan emphasizes that safety should be embedded into daily workflows rather than treated as an add-on. When safety becomes integral to how work gets done—not just a separate checklist—organizations see improved performance, reduced incidents, and stronger cultures. He advocates for empowering employees rather than punishing them, which builds long-term trust and momentum.

Key Insight: “Good safety drives good business”—effective safety programs don’t just prevent incidents; they improve operational efficiency, reduce costs (like fuel consumption through safer driving), and create better workplace cultures that benefit the entire organization.

Practical Takeaways: Focus on leading indicators, align leadership support, integrate safety into operations, empower frontline workers, and maintain continuous improvement even after achieving safety goals.