Building a safety leadership culture fit to last at Malteurop
For Malteurop safety has always been a strategic priority.
One in ten beers consumed worldwide is brewed using their malt, so the pressure to maintain safe, reliable operations across 22 plants in 14 countries is constant.
But for Malteurop – a global leader in malt production and a subsidiary of the French agricultural cooperative VIVESCIA – sustaining a safety culture across a widely dispersed international workforce requires more than policy. It requires leadership.
In 2024, Malteurop partnered with Cegos to design and deliver the “7 Safety Leadership Imperatives” – a global learning programme for managers across all business units.
When safety culture needs a new driver
Malteurop's safety transformation began in 2016 with the CARE programme. This was a group-wide initiative designed to raise awareness of occupational risk and embed safer behaviour across all employees.
In 2022, it was re-imagined as “CARE – Heading Towards 2025”, developed with the Institute for a Culture of Industrial Safety, sharpening the focus on the company’s most critical operational risks.
The results were significant, with the total number of accidents falling fourfold.
However, sustaining that progress required something more targeted, and the company had to overcome a structural problem. Internal trainers had historically acted as safety ambassadors, supporting managers and ensuring consistent standards across sites. As those trainers departed without being replaced, safety practices became diluted.
Malteurop’s leadership identified the gap: managers needed to become the promoters of safety culture themselves, driven by a single, non-negotiable ambition – zero serious or fatal accidents.
1 day training
Building the programme from reality, not theory
Cegos programme designers and Malteurop’s HR, Safety and Operations teams drew on over 1,400 real-life safety examples shared by managers across multiple countries. This body of operational evidence became the programme’s foundation, based on how safety was actually experienced on the ground.
Generative AI played a key role in making co-design scalable. Using a structured, prompt-driven methodology, the team analysed large volumes of field data and organised patterns around seven Safety Leadership Imperatives:
- 1- Lead by example: Demonstrate exemplary behavior and embody the expected safety standards.
- 2- Share: Communicate a clear vision, set goals, and support teams in addressing safety challenges.
- 3- Prioritise: Systematically integrate safety into all decision-making processes.
- 4- Improve: Foster an open environment that encourages feedback from the field and continuous improvement.
- 5- Promote: Be present on the ground, encourage dialogue, and foster active employee participation.
- 6- Reward: Recognise safe behavior and demonstrate managerial courage when dealing with violations.
- 7- Develop: Support teams to help every employee become a safety ambassador.
These imperatives were drawn from Malteurop’s own internal framework and the programme’s task was to turn principles into practice.
A journey in seven modules
The programme unfolded as a 14-week digital learning journey, with one module released every two weeks. The modules were paced to allow managers to absorb each imperative and test it in their working environment before moving on.
Each module combined interactive e-learning built around realistic operational scenarios, scripted videos using on-site footage with first-person managerial narration, behaviour-oriented quizzes, pocket cards summarising key actions, and full transcripts for convenient review.
A hybrid design, made up of authentic Malteurop site footage alongside AI-generated elements, ensured the programme was both credible and scalable across 14 countries, with RGAA-compliant accessibility and adapted language for varying levels of English proficiency.
Participants were not asked to imagine abstract safety challenges. They were shown situations drawn from their own industry, their own type of plant, their own decisions.
The reasoning behind this? When managers see themselves in the learning, something shifts.
Leadership driving leadership
The Group HR Director and Director of Operations launched the pilot project directly with operations directors and HR managers. The second stage extended the programme to plant managers and safety managers around the world, with Plant Directors personally delivering kick-off sessions to their sites.
This sequencing was deliberate. By requiring leaders to complete the programme before those who report to them, Malteurop built a visible cascade of commitment.
On completion, each participant defined three concrete actions to implement over one, six, and twelve months. Individual commitments were formalised in the annual performance review and monitored by the HR Director, Safety Director and Director of Operations.
Safety leadership was no longer a training activity. It was a performance expectation.
2 days course
100% completion, lasting commitment
Across the first two stages, involving 59 participants, completion reached 100% within the expected timeframe.
The final examination, made up of 50 behaviour-oriented questions covering all seven imperatives, produced an average score of 9.8 out of 10 on the first attempt. Post-training satisfaction reached 3.51 out of 4, with 90% of respondents rating the pedagogical approach positively.
But it was what happened on the ground that was most impressive.
- 73% of participants reported implementing new safety leadership practices during the learning phase itself.
- 93% incorporated at least one safety objective into their annual performance review, generating nearly 130 individual safety leadership commitments across the group.
Managers reported tangible shifts. For example, updated site safety roadmaps had clearer accountability, resolutions of non-conformities were faster, and more employees reported near-misses. This shift represented a move from safety as a managerial obligation to safety as a shared team responsibility.
A safe community
Engagement was also key to the programme’s success. The "REACHING ZERO" campaign extended the programme's impact beyond the management cohort to every Malteurop employee.
The campaign included high-impact posters and "Safety Pause" events – site-wide briefings in which managers present safety results, share best practices, and agree next steps with their teams.
This programme made safety a shared organisational identity rather than a leadership responsibility alone.
“The cohort continues to move forward, exchange, and share on our challenges,” noted one Plant Manager.
The programme did not just train managers. It created a connected, committed leadership community with safety at its core.
Malteurop's video testimonial
Find out more about the project in this video with William Paque, Operations Director at Malteurop SA and Thierry Houot, Head of Human Resources at Malteurop SA sharing their insights.
FAQ
What is the “7 Safety Leadership Imperatives” programme?
A 14-week global e-learning programme for Malteurop managers, structured around seven core safety leadership behaviours. Each module combines scenario-based learning, behaviour-oriented quizzes, and individual commitments to embed safety leadership into daily management practice.
How did Cegos approach the programme design?
Cegos used a data-driven, co-design methodology drawing on over 1,400 real-life examples from managers across all countries. Generative AI was used to analyse this material at scale, producing a learning experience grounded in operational reality and consistent across geographies.
How was impact measured?
Through completion rates, final exam scores, post-training satisfaction surveys, and self-assessment of the seven imperatives. Longer-term impact is tracked through individual safety objectives formalised in annual performance reviews.
Why does leadership sponsorship matter in safety training?
When senior leaders complete the programme before the managers who report to them, it creates a clear signal that this is a performance expectation, not a compliance exercise. At Malteurop, this cascade – from Group Director to Plant Director to manager – was central to achieving 100% completion.
