The Fire Culture Monitor
Independent, academic-led insight into Fire & Rescue Service culture and wellbeingUnderstanding Culture and Wellbeing in Fire & Rescue Services
Fire & Rescue Services operate in complex, high-risk environments where organisational culture directly affects safety, decision-making, inclusion, and wellbeing. Culture shapes how people interpret risk, support one another, respond under pressure, and speak up when things are not right.
In safety-critical organisations, culture is not a “soft” issue. It underpins:
- firefighter wellbeing and mental health
- psychological safety, trust, and voice
- leadership effectiveness and fairness
- morale, commitment, and retention
- learning, adaptation, and prevention of harm
Understanding Fire and Rescue Service culture and wellbeing is therefore essential to sustaining safe, effective, and trusted services.
What Is the Fire Culture Monitor?
The Fire Culture Monitor is an independent, academic-led research programme designed to help Fire & Rescue Services understand how workplace culture is experienced across their organisation.
Rather than reducing culture to a single score or set of values, the Monitor explores how work is designed, led, and experienced in practice. It provides structured, evidence-led insight into the conditions that support or undermine wellbeing, trust, and engagement.
The Monitor is not an inspection tool and does not produce league tables. Its purpose is to support reflection, learning, and improvement within services and across the sector.
The Foundations of Workplace Culture
At the heart of the Fire Culture Monitor are the voices and lived experiences of Fire & Rescue Service employees. The Monitor goes beyond surface-level data to explore the psychological, social, and organisational factors that shape everyday working life.
It examines three interrelated dimensions of Fire & Rescue Service culture and wellbeing.
Stress and Wellbeing
This dimension examines how well workplaces support the physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing of their workforce, alongside exposure to work-related stress.
It draws on internationally recognised frameworks, including:
the World Health Organisation WHO-5 Wellbeing Index, and
the Health and Safety Executive Stress Management Standards Indicator Tool, which explores demands, control, support, relationships, role clarity, and organisational change.
Together, these measures provide insight into how organisational pressures and protective resources interact to influence wellbeing and performance across Fire & Rescue Services.
Leadership and Engagement
Leadership plays a critical role in shaping organisational culture in the fire service. This dimension explores how leadership is experienced in practice and how it relates to trust, motivation, and connection at work.
It examines:
transformational leadership behaviours
employee engagement and job satisfaction
organisational commitment
turnover intentions and advocacy
This provides a clear picture of leadership climate, morale, and organisational connection across teams, roles, and levels of the Service.
Culture, Belonging and Equity
A healthy workplace culture is one where people feel respected, treated fairly, and able to be themselves at work. This dimension explores everyday experiences of fairness, inclusion, and psychological safety.
It draws on indicators of:
procedural justice and fairness
experiences of inappropriate behaviour
respect, inclusion, and dignity at work
The Monitor also includes a Safe and Inclusive Workplace Index, capturing the overall sense of belonging, trust, and mutual respect across teams and services.
Why the Fire Culture Monitor Matters
Transforming Culture, Together
The Fire and Rescue Service is at the heart of public safety. To protect communities effectively, we must first ensure that the people within the Service are supported, trusted, and empowered.
The Fire Culture Monitor provides the independent evidence and collaborative framework needed to strengthen workplace culture. By identifying strengths and challenges, and engaging staff in co-produced dialogue, we help Services turn insight into sustained improvement.
- Build trust—strengthening relationships between employees, leadership, and the public.
- Enhance performance—through healthier, more motivated, and engaged teams.
- Drive cultural change—embedding fairness, transparency, and inclusion at every level.
The result is a stronger, more confident Fire and Rescue Service, one that leads with integrity, values its people, and earns the trust of the communities it serves.
For Fire and Rescue Leaders: Strengthening Insight and Accountability
The Fire Culture Monitor is an essential tool for leaders committed to understanding and improving their organisation’s culture. All data are collected and analysed independently, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and impartiality in every report.
When you sign up, you’ll gain:
Tailored Insights: Each participating service receives access to dashboards and reports tailored to their organisation, offering a clear view of culture, wellbeing, and leadership across their teams.
National Learning: As more Services join, their anonymised data will contribute to a growing national picture, supporting future benchmarking, shared learning, and sector-wide improvement through the annual State of Culture Report.
Actionable Recommendations: Detailed feedback highlights areas of strength and opportunities for development, supporting evidence-based actions to enhance culture, wellbeing, and performance.
Building Public Confidence: By strengthening workplace culture and transparency, the Monitor helps Fire and Rescue Services build trust among employees, leaders, and the communities they serve.
Take the first step toward transforming your organisation – join the Fire Culture Monitor today.
Part of the FireCultureSpark Programme
The Fire Culture Monitor forms part of FireCultureSpark, an academic-led research and innovation programme focused on understanding and improving organisational culture, wellbeing, and work design in Fire & Rescue Services.
FireCultureSpark provides the wider platform for developing new tools, advancing theory, and supporting sector learning, with the Fire Culture Monitor acting as its flagship research instrument.
Learn More or Get Involved
To find out more about the Fire Culture Monitor, its methodology, or opportunities for participation and collaboration:
Explore the Monitor’s methodology
Read insights on Fire & Rescue Service culture and wellbeing
Get in touch to discuss engagement
Take the first step towards understanding and strengthening your organisation’s culture.
Join the Fire Culture Monitor.