Interview with Philippe Maillard on BFM Business: The Apave Group, cutting-edge expertise in risk management

Can you tell us more about the Apave Group's expertise?

Apave is an international group with expertise in technical, human, environmental and digital risk management. The company was founded in 1867, at the time of the Industrial Revolution. At the time, the aim was to support factories and their industrial production capacity, while ensuring that workers' health was not put at risk.
Over the decades, we have kept pace with all the changes in society, right up to the present day, with the new challenges posed by the environmental transition, and more recently by the digital transition. To meet all the new challenges in risk management, we pay particular attention to the technical training of our teams, so that they remain experts in their field.

Who are the customers to whom you provide this expertise?

We provide day-to-day support to a wide range of companies - from very small businesses and SMEs to the largest industrial groups, as well as local authorities of all sizes - in France, Europe and abroad. In all, we are present in 55 countries around the world, and employ over 14,000 people.

What kind of work do you do for your customers?

On a daily basis, we help our customers to improve the safety of people and property, as well as protecting the environment and preventing digital risks.
To achieve this, every day we mobilise our 10,000 engineers and technicians who are recognised for their cutting-edge expertise in a wide range of fields, including electricity, pressure, welding, radiation, climate, carbon, and so on. We operate in 5 business areas: inspection, vocational training, testing & measurement, certification and consultancy.
Our job is to enable our customers to carry out theirs to the full in complete safety. The many ecological, energy and social transitions are bringing about major changes in their business today and in the future. These changes involve new ways of producing and consuming, and are a source of new risks that absolutely must be identified and managed.

This is the essence of the missions that the Apave Group has been carrying out for 150 years, in line with industrial and technical revolutions. Over time, risks change and we have to adapt to them.

What do you see as the main challenges ahead?

One of the major objectives is to maintain our company's technical reputation. The technical quality of our services is one of our main strengths today.
To maintain this expertise and support our growth, we need to retain and train our teams, as well as recruit new staff. For several years now, we've been recruiting between 1,600 and 1,700 people a year: technicians and engineers, both beginners and experienced, who are actively contributing to the development of our company.

What does the future hold for your group?

For Apave, safety is the foundation of all progress. Over the last few years, the Group has taken a new step forward with accelerated transformation and growth. We're going to expand our scope of activity still further, enriching our businesses through acquisitions and strengthening our presence around the world.
Each new site and each new acquisition brings new skills and an immense wealth to our Group, a wealth that complements the excellence of our more traditional businesses, which are more essential than ever. The times we live in are interesting in this respect: never before has the world had so much need for our expertise in lifting, pressure, mechanics or electricity. Without cutting-edge expertise in electricity, there would be no electric terminals for cars, no wifi, no wind turbines or photovoltaic panels connected and secured.

Apave is building a culture of trust, anticipating risks and enabling everyone to live in a safer, more sustainable world.