Reimagining Safety and Innovation in Clean Tech: A Conversation with Karim Ibrik

In clean tech startups, safety isn’t just compliance; it’s a growth accelerator. Robust protocols build trust with industrial customers, investors, and regulators, enabling scale. Focusing on safety, even under pressure to move fast, risks reputation, customer confidence, and long-term viability. In high-stakes industries, safety is both a shield and a strategic advantage.

In the latest episode of The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Karim Ibrik, COO of Rondo Energy, to dig into what it takes to build world-class safety practices while driving radical innovation in clean tech. If you think safety is just about checklists or compliance, Karim’s insights will make you rethink everything.

Here are some of the topics we discussed.

Safety as a Matrix: Tailoring Protocols Across Operations

Karim explained that Rondo Energy segments safety into personal safety, working at heights, slips, and falls, and technical safety, like managing heat, pressure, and voltage risks. Rather than a one-size-fits-all program, they treat safety as a matrix, tailoring protocols for R&D, manufacturing, and field operations while maintaining core standards. For safety leaders, this is a powerful framework, allowing for actionable, environment-specific safety practices that don’t compromise coverage or effectiveness.

Learning from Customers: The “Maximum Safety Standard”

Working on brownfield sites comes with its own challenges, and Karim highlighted how Rondo leverages feedback from blue-chip customers to strengthen their safety systems. This approach creates a “maximum safety standard”, ensuring both Rondo teams and customers operate under the highest safety expectations. The key takeaway: treat feedback as a tool for improvement, not criticism. Continuous learning from customer practices elevates safety performance while building credibility with enterprise partners.

Balancing Speed and Safety in Startups

Clean tech startups face constant pressure to move fast, but Karim stressed the dangers of compromising safety to meet timelines. While delays may impact short-term metrics, cutting corners can permanently damage reputation and trust. Robust safety protocols are not obstacles; they are risk management tools that protect operations and future growth. Leaders must instill a mindset where safety remains non-negotiable, even under the most intense startup pressures.

Trust Through Full-Time Safety Investment

Karim also shared how Rondo builds trust in high-risk, venture-backed operations. Unlike the “move fast and break things” approach common in software, industrial customers and regulators demand consistent hands-on safety commitment. Rondo invests in full-time, onsite safety personnel to demonstrate that safety is central to the business model, not just a checkbox. For startups, this is a strategic advantage, flipping the “risky newcomer” perception into a credibility accelerator that enables growth.

Karim’s Journey: From Investment to Innovation

One of the most inspiring parts of the conversation was Karim’s own path. From grad school in the U.S. to clean energy investing, helping entrepreneurs spin out startups, and ultimately joining Rondo, he highlighted the value of getting hands-on. For him, real-world impact comes from being deeply involved, not advising from the sidelines. This mindset informs how Rondo approaches safety, embedding protocols into operations from day one rather than retrofitting them later.

Scaling Safety While Maintaining Discipline

Karim described how the premium on safety is extremely high for early-stage startups. Trust is earned daily, on-site, not once a week. As Rondo’s team gains confidence internally and externally, they can scale, but they do so without compromising standards. This illustrates an essential truth in high-stakes industries: scalability should never come at the expense of safety.

Safety as a Strategic Advantage

What really stood out in this episode is the broader lesson: investing in safety drives growth, credibility, and innovation. By embedding safety into every action, learning continuously from customers, and committing to hands-on practices, companies can achieve operational excellence while scaling responsibly. Safety is not a checkbox; it’s a culture, a mindset, and a competitive differentiator.

If there’s one takeaway I want listeners to remember, it’s this: safety isn’t just compliance, it’s the license to innovate, scale, and earn trust in high-risk industries. From brownfield operations to cutting-edge clean tech, the lessons Karim shares are actionable for any safety leader aiming to turn protocols into growth and credibility.

🎧 Listen to the full episode with Karim Ibrik on The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management:

Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/47BxQDq
Spotify: https://bit.ly/3WrTDIz
YouTube: https://youtu.be/yY6mSMPOKbk