On this episode of The Safety Knights Podcast, host Zach Johnston sits down with Ryan Castello, SMS, MSP, Director of Safety & Risk at CILA — and an anthropologist-turned-safety-leader who sees the job very differently than most.
Ryan didn’t come up through a traditional safety path. His academic background is in anthropology, studying black and gray market economics and subcultures. After 9/11 derailed his academic plans, a “temporary” internship in safety turned into a 20+ year career spanning manufacturing, American Express, grocery/warehousing, heavy industry, and now home services.
In this conversation, Zach and Ryan dig into:
How an anthropology nerd fell into safety and never left
The moment a New York City transit strike & crisis management made safety feel real
Why “most people don’t experience safety the way safety people do”
The human side of fear: evacuations, injuries, ladders, and why empathy matters more than checklists
Why Ryan intentionally didn’t change anything for the first months at a new plant
Turning training from 1-hour lockout/tagout lectures into 2–5 minute, task-based mobile videos
Using QR codes and phones as safety tools instead of banning them
How learning teams and casual conversations uncover the hazards your metrics miss
Behavior-based safety without the blame: forcing supervisors to give 80% positive feedback
What’s broken about how we talk about “safety culture” — and why Ryan says it basically doesn’t exist
Night shift, donuts, and why micro-cultures matter more than slogans
Why you shouldn’t stay in a bad safety job just to “tough it out”
Switching industries (print → finance → grocery → manufacturing → home services) and why safety skills travel
How to speak leadership’s language: TRIR vs. downtime, revenue, and cost per $100k
Tech he trusts (microlearning, translation, QR tools) vs. where he’s skeptical of AI & surveillance
If you’re a safety pro trying to build trust, simplify training, or get better support from operations and leadership, this one is packed with practical, human-centered insight.
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🤝 Connect with Ryan Castello on LinkedIn to keep the conversation going.
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