Employer safety obligations, safety climate, and safety behaviors in the ready-made garment context in Bangladesh

•Employer safety obligations had a positive influence on safety climate perceptions among garment employees.•Safety climate perceptions are positively and significantly associated with safety behaviors.•The safety climate mediates the influence of employer safety obligations on safety behaviors. Purpose: The impact of employer safety obligations on safety climate and safety outcomes has become an important area of research in organizational and safety sciences. Evidence shows that employer safety obligations positively impact safety outcomes, including safety climate and safety behaviors. However, these relationships have not been thoroughly explored within the garment settings. This study is one of the first known studies to examine the relationships between employer safety obligations, safety climate, and safety behavior outcomes in a sample of garment employees. Methods: Two-wave time-lagged data were collected from 347 garment employees and their supervisors in Bangladesh. Hierarchical regression analysis was applied to examine hypothesized relationships using AMOS a SPSS. Results: Employer safety obligations positively influenced safety climate perceptions among garment employees. Safety climate perceptions are positively and significantly associated with safety behaviors, including safety compliance behaviors, prosocial safety behaviors, and proactive safety behaviors. Moreover, the safety climate mediates the influence of employer safety obligations on safety behaviors. Conclusions: These findings provide important evidence of the relationships between employer safety obligations, safety climate, and safety behaviors in the garment industry of Bangladesh. Practical Applications: Ultimately, these findings guide the government, garment manufacturers, and managers to bolster garment employees’ safety outcomes.