It depends on the aircraft. It started out as SOP, but after a while it became expected practice. A few airframes require the right to be started first, either because the left doesn't have an electric starter or because various power devices are attached to the right but not the left, common in multiengine helicopters.
Passengers and crew traditionally enter from doors on the left of an aircraft. So in many situations the right engine is kept running while the left is shutdown to accommodate passenger entry. You wouldn't start left, then right, only to shutdown left to board pax.
As for safety, one would never start an engine if it would be unsafe to start a different engine. You wouldn't start the right while someone was working around the left. A single crossed wire or slip of the finger is too high a risk to take.