Our Support Programs

Strengthening Safety Culture in Companies

Methods, Programs, and Support Approach

Why is Fullmark a Leading Player in Support Programs?

Every year, nearly 600,000 workplace accidents are recorded in France—that’s one every 45 seconds. Despite procedures, training, and audits, these accidents continue to happen. Why? Because compliance alone is not enough to create a true safety culture.

This is the difference Fullmark helps companies make through its SMART-Safety© method. We support companies (from operators to the Executive Committee) in building a safety culture that lasts, embedded in daily practices and on-the-ground behaviors.

Building structured programs with clients to strengthen safety culture has been Fullmark’s core expertise for 40 years!

fullmark safety culture coach

What is Safety Culture, Really?

It’s a question many organizations think they’ve answered. They have a risk assessment document, an HSE manager, and a safety policy signed by the CEO. And there you go—they think they have a “Safety Culture.”

But they don’t! They have a management system, and that is something completely different.

Safety culture is what happens when the HSE manager isn’t there. It’s the decision an operator makes under pressure at 5:55 PM, when the truck is waiting and the floor is wet. It’s the action a team leader takes (or doesn’t take) when they see a colleague taking a risk.

It doesn’t show up on a poster. It is built and reflected in daily behaviors.

Let's stop confusing the two

Compliance vs. Culture 

Compliance answers one question: Are we following the rules? Culture answers another: Why do we really want to be safe?

This isn't just a philosophical detail. It's the difference between an organization whose frequency rate drops because people are reporting less... and an organization whose rate drops because it's producing fewer accidents.

Criterion
Motivation
What drives it
What we observe
Without supervision
››››
Compliance Approach
Avoiding penalties
External control
Correct figures on paper
It stops
››››
Safety Culture
Protecting people
Internal commitment
Safe behaviours every day
It continues

A Four-Step Progression

The 4 Maturity Levels: Where do you really stand?

There is a reference model in the field, often called the Bradley Curve or Hudson Scale. Four levels. Few organizations are honestly where they believe they are.

Fullmark’s SMART-Safety© programs are designed to move organizations from level to level in a structured, measurable way, without empty rhetoric.
01
Reactive
We deal with it after the accident. Safety is the HSE's problem.
02
Dependent
We follow the rules because we have to. It stops when supervision does.
03
Independent
Each individual takes safety on board for themselves. Good, but still individual.
04
Interdependent
Safety is collective. We protect one another. That is the goal.
✓ The goal
safety maturity level diagnostic

The Observation No One Dares to Make

Why is Traditional Corporate Safety Training No Longer Enough?

Let's be honest: a one-day manual handling training session does not change a behaviour ingrained over ten years. Nobody would dare say it out loud in a board meeting. Everyone knows it.

Neuroscience has measured it: without spaced repetition, without contextual anchoring, without managerial support:

80%
of training content
disappears within 48 hours

3 mechanisms explain the failure:

1
It transfers knowledge, not reflexes
What saves lives on the ground are automatic responses — those that kick in at 6 in the morning, in the cold, when nobody is watching.
2
It does not change the context
If the manager takes risks, if production pressure is ever-present, if near-misses are never reported, training counts for nothing.
3
It does not measure what matters
A multiple-choice test at the end of a session measures short-term recall, not what the employee does six months later, alone, on site.

Not a training. A transformation programme.

That is why Fullmark built the SMART-Safety© approach: a multi-level method that combines structured programmes, field coaching, anchoring tools and measurement of real impact.

Developing a Sustainable Safety Culture

Methods That Work

40 years of interventions in diverse sectors such as construction, industry, agrifood, chemicals, energy, and logistics… have taught us: there is no universal method. But there are tested and fully proven methods.

In 80% of serious accidents, a deficit in safety leadership is found somewhere in the chain of command. This isn’t an accusation; it’s a lever. Safety Leadership is a shift in posture that is learned and perfected throughout a career.

Concretely, a manager practicing Safety Leadership does very specific things. They open every meeting with a safety point—not just a formality, but a real exchange. They go into the field to observe, not to police. When an operator reports a near-miss, they thank them publicly. And when production pressure mounts, they don’t compromise on safety. They say it. They show it.

Fullmark has trained over 20,000 managers in these practices: from frontline supervisors to the executive committee.

method that works

Our Programs

Before Choosing a Method, Know Where You Stand

The Safety Culture Diagnostic

Depending on your expectations and budgets, Fullmark has several approaches (survey-based, participatory, etc.) to conduct a diagnostic in your company. We offer a detailed analysis with real added value, and we always provide a proposed action plan and tools successfully deployed in other companies.

The mistake to avoid is launching a program before performing a diagnostic. For example, investing in Safety Leadership training when the real heart of the problem is a lack of field reporting.

The Fullmark Safety Culture Diagnostic combines:

  • Measurement: Through the diagnostic, with a neutral external perspective, we place the marker somewhere on the safety culture maturity curve.
  • Benchmarking: The diagnostic allows you to know where your company stands compared to other similar players.
  • Transparency: Our experts provide a transparent view of how safety culture is perceived in your company.
  • Objectivity: The diagnostic helps objectify beliefs regarding your safety culture.
  • Major Risks: Our analysis identifies field practices that impact the management of major risks.
participatory diagnostic workshop

A Solid Safety Culture Starts with an Aligned Executive Committee

Executive Committee & Safety Culture

A safety culture isn’t built solely on regulatory obligations. For it to be sustainably embedded in practices, leadership involvement is essential.

That’s why Fullmark designed a journey dedicated to Executive Committees, focused on their posture, responsibilities, and role in developing a true safety culture.

Organized in half-day sessions and adaptable to each organization, the journey includes 7 modules.

Through role-playing, discussions, and concrete tools, participants leave with a shared vision and actions directly applicable in the field. The result: an aligned leadership, engaged teams, and a sustainable safety culture.

executive-committee-coaching
CODIR programme in half-day sessions
1
Team building

A shared language and the foundations of collective commitment

2
Strategy for embedding a safety culture

The concrete levers for anchoring safety within the organisation

3
Roles and responsibilities

A clear understanding of legal obligations and legal risks

4
Giving meaning to the safety approach

The ability to deliver a message that truly convinces

5
Communication in the service of safety

Participative techniques to engage teams

6
Neuroscience and at-risk behaviours

How the brain works and how to influence behaviours

7
Safety countermeasures

Robust action plans tailored to your context

Return On Investment
The Cost of Doing Nothing

The question is not “how much does a safety culture programme cost?”.
It is: “how much does the absence of a safety culture cost?”

€20,000
to €50,000
Average cost of a lost-time accident

Replacement, disruption, loss of productivity, administrative management.

Source: INRS
€2.20Return for every €1 invested

In some industrial sectors, the ratio rises to 1 for 6.

Source: ILO

Investing in safety culture is profitable. Not doing so has a cost.

fullmark corporate diagnostic meeting

From the First Meeting to Field Deployment

How Does it Work with Fullmark?

1Step 1We understand your reality

Before proposing anything, our experts carry out a genuine diagnostic: field observations, interviews at every level, analysis of your indicators.

2Step 2We build the programme with you

On the basis of the diagnostic, we co-build your programme. Sector, size, sites, internal culture, operational constraints — everything counts. Multilingual available.

3Step 3We deploy

SMART-Safety programmes are delivered by expert trainers who know the field. Fullmark also offers Safety Days — powerful moments of collective engagement.

4Step 4We embed, so it lasts

That is where most providers stop. Fullmark stays. Multi-year support, indicator tracking, Safety Steering Committee.

Methods, Programs, and Support Approach

Why Do Companies Like EDF, Lactalis, Danone, SNCF, or Total Choose Fullmark?

They could have chosen a large generalist consulting firm. They chose Fullmark. Why?

Not because we are the cheapest. Because we are the most effective on this specific subject.

Safety culture isn’t just a line in our catalog. It has been our only business for 40 years. We don’t have an HR division, no digital transformation hub, no strategic consulting team. We do this. Only this. And we do it well, with passion!

Trust growing together with Fullmark
What sets us apartIn practice
40 years of experience
Several thousand companies supported. All sectors, all sizes.
2,500 active clients
From process industries to services, from construction to healthcare.
20,000 managers trained
From frontline supervisors to the CODIR: the full chain.
Local & international presence
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain. Multilingual programmes.
40 expert trainers
Passionate specialists. Not generalist trainers repurposed for safety.
of experience in prevention and safety culture
10 years
managers trained in Safety Leadership
10000 +
Clients
1000 +

Ready to Break Through the Glass Ceiling
of Your Safety Results?

Let’s discuss your specific situation and see which ideas, tools, concepts, and ideal program can help you meet your challenges in strengthening safety culture.

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ

What is safety culture in a company?

Safety culture is the set of behaviors, attitudes, and values shared in an organization regarding risks. It's not a system, not a document. It's what people do when no one is watching. It is built over time through manager exemplarity, daily rituals, and structured programs like Fullmark's SMART-Safety©.

Via three types of indicators. Reactive ones (Frequency Rate, Severity Rate) measure past failures. Proactive ones (rate of safe behaviors, reported near-misses) measure the ability to prevent. Cultural ones (level of trust, freedom to report) measure the deep state of the culture. The Fullmark Diagnostic combines all three with field observations and qualitative interviews.

The management system (ISO 45001, etc.) is the framework. Culture is what happens outside the framework—spontaneous decisions, behaviors under pressure, the unspoken. One structures; the other drives. You can have the best management system in the world and a disastrous safety culture. The reverse is also true.

Because they transmit knowledge, not reflexes. Without repetition, contextual anchoring, and managerial support, 80% of content is forgotten within 48 hours. Isolated training does not change behavior. A program (with field coaching, regular feedback, and managerial exemplarity) is what changes it.

It is a manager's ability to influence their team's safety behaviors through their own actions. Not their speeches, but their actions. Field visits, safety briefings that are truly engaging, valuing reports, and absolute exemplarity when production pressure mounts. Fullmark trains managers in these concrete practices through its Safety Coaching programs.

A method that reverses usual logic: instead of counting accidents, we measure behaviors. Trained observers, often peers, conduct structured field observations and provide constructive feedback. The data feeds into a collective action plan. Result: we act on causes, not consequences.

By equipping them, not just training them. They need practical tools (safety briefings, structured field visits), coaching to help them shift their posture, and recognition of their role in managerial evaluations. Fullmark offers dedicated programs—Safety Coaching, individual coaching, Executive Committee support—for every level of management.

Between 18 and 36 months for sustainable anchoring. The first positive signals often appear within the first 6 months: behaviors, climate, proactive indicators. But deep cultural change is built over the long term. That's why Fullmark's support is designed to last, with regular evaluations and continuous adjustments.