<![CDATA[Occupational safety is a critical issue in high-risk industries, particularly in oil and gas Operation and Maintenance (O&M) companies, where workplace accidents frequently occur due to unsafe behaviors. Strengthening organizational factors such as safety leadership and safety climate is essential to improve employees’ safety behavior and mitigate occupational accidents. This study aims to analyze the direct and indirect effects of safety leadership and safety climate on occupational accidents, positioning safety behavior as a mediating variable. A quantitative approach with a verificative design was employed, involving 110 employees from an O&M oil and gas company. Data were collected via questionnaires and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that safety leadership and safety climate significantly and directly reduce occupational accidents. Furthermore, safety behavior acts as a crucial mediating variable, successfully bridging the impact of safety leadership and safety climate on occupational accidents. Out-of-sample prediction using PLSpredict confirmed the model's high predictive relevance. These findings highlight that organizational safety practices are most effective when translated into individual safety behaviors. The study provides actionable managerial implications for HSE professionals to implement behavior-based safety observations and horizontal peer-to-peer safety communication to sustainably reduce workplace accidents in high-risk operational environments.]]>
