This study explores a potential contributing factor to the issue of workplace accidents in China, where the fatality rate is 2.5 and 3.5 times greater than in the United States and Europe. Focusing on the supply chain, it draws on institutional and diffusion literature to theorize and test conditions under which accidents at industrial buying firms in China affect the casualty rate in their national supply base. Analyzing data from four databases, covering 4,679 listed Chinese industrial firms and their national suppliers from 2007 to 2020, our results indicate that workplace accidents in buyers significantly increase casualties in their supply base, with a relative increase of casualty rates by up to 267% in the following two years. This effect is more pronounced when buyers have high government shareholding, strong operational performance, and lower recent accident rates in their supply base. Interestingly, we found no significant effect of media coverage on this phenomenon. The study’s insights deepen our knowledge of how irresponsible workplace practices proliferate within supply chains and present important consequences for government bodies, inspection authorities, managers, and societal stakeholders, providing levers to mitigate or halt this propagation
